


Albus Potter and the Slytherin Fairy Princess

by melblue



Series: Harry Potter Next Generation Series [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bullying, First Time, Friendship, Harry Potter Next Generation, Humor, M/M, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, Romance, Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-21
Updated: 2012-12-21
Packaged: 2017-11-21 22:00:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 71,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/602527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melblue/pseuds/melblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone was amazed when Albus Potter was sorted into Slytherin House, but no less amazing was the effect on Hogwarts and the House itself. No longer reviled, and now popular, times had certainly changed for Slytherin House. But not for Scorpius Malfoy...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: The Harry Potter world is not mine, but it's sure fun playing in it.
> 
> I've never written one of these angst-filled, Cinderella, hurt/comfort type of things so I thought I'd see if I could. This is the result. It's also the first story that I've written for a long time that has dual pov, but it seemed appropriate.
> 
> The Minor Character Death warning is for two characters that are minor in the context of this story. That is to say that even had they lived, I would not have written about them anyway - you'll see what I mean when you get to the end of this chapter.

Scorpius Malfoy sighed gently as he watched Albus Potter laughing loudly with his friends. It had been many years since he'd envied the other boy for his easy humour, his vibrant looks and his many friends, and now his feelings about Albus Potter were both very straightforward and far more complicated.

He had a terrible crush, he knew it, and he also knew that if anyone else found out about it his life would be even more miserable at Hogwarts then it was now.

It wasn't that he hated Hogwarts. Far from it, he loved learning so he loved the lessons. He sometimes wondered how it was that he hadn't been sorted into Ravenclaw, but he was after all a Malfoy, and that meant Slytherin, even if the Malfoy name didn't mean as much as his father assured him it once had.

Scorpius didn't give a toss about the Malfoy name, in fact if it meant that he would be left alone he'd rather not have it.

Still, he thought, as he tore his eyes away from Albus Potter and stirred his porridge despondently, even if he had been sorted into another house, things still wouldn't have been different. He was still a Malfoy, and he was still himself, and for various reasons, not many people seemed to like that.

His father had always told him to be proud to be a Malfoy and proud to be a Slytherin, but to keep his head down and work hard. And Scorpius had tried to do that, he really had. He was quiet, he studied hard, he didn't interfere with anyone, but for some reason it just didn't work.

He could sort of understand the way everyone seemed to feel about his name, after all the Malfoys had played both sides in the war, and there was a general feeling that they couldn't be trusted, and even if it had all happened before he was even born, Scorpius could understand that mud stuck.

But as for the rest of it, Scorpius thought resentfully, did it really matter what he looked like? Yes, he had the Malfoy white hair, pale skin and grey eyes. He had delicate features, he was slender and fine-boned, and he'd long since given up on getting any taller (he would be sixteen next week and he hadn't grown a millimetre since his fifteenth birthday), but surely all of that was no reason to call him the Slytherin Fairy Princess. He wasn't a girl, and the title wasn't even that original. Sure, he was gay, but Scorpius knew that wasn't why he was so unpopular because the most popular boy in the school, Albus Potter, was also gay, and he even had a boyfriend.

Of course, that was actually one of the worst things about having a crush on Albus Potter. The fact that he was actually gay was a cause of constant, painful hope, even if Albus didn't even seem to know that Scorpius was alive, which was extremely depressing, considering the fact that they were both Slytherin and therefore shared a dormitory. The fact that Albus had a boyfriend, Gryffindor prefect Simon Crimshaw, was the perfect killer of that hope, for Simon Crimshaw was everything that Scorpius was not. Tall and athletic with brown curly hair and melting brown eyes, Simon was a beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team and it was expected that he would be Captain when James Potter left Hogwarts.

Scorpius briefly wondered if that would affect Simon's relationship with Albus, for Albus was Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team and highly competitive, but being on opposing teams hadn't seemed to have bothered them so far, which Scorpius knew for a fact after witnessing their affection for each other on a daily basis for the last two years. And _that_ was particularly painful considering Scorpius, himself, had never even been kissed.

A finger suddenly poked him in the ribs and a sharp yelp fell from Scorpius' lips. He glared at his smiling neighbour resentfully.

"Stop moping," said Peony Zabini, his closest and, well, only friend, really. "Eat your breakfast."

"I'm not hungry," Scorpius replied. "And keep your fingers to yourself."

Peony waggled her eyebrows. "Bet you wouldn't say that if I was a boy."

"Oh Merlin, don't you start," Scorpius sniped, and then softened it with a smile, when Peony's grin faltered.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing," Scorpius shook his head. "Just the usual stress of the first day. What do we have first?" he asked, attempting to change the subject.

Peony rolled her eyes. "As if you don't know that it's Potions. And you also know that it's with the Gryffindors."

Scorpius hummed his agreement, his eyes drifting to the Gryffindor table. He'd already had an encounter with the boy who was one of his chief tormentors on the way to the Great Hall that morning and he was well aware that Martin Creevey would be sharing the Potions classroom with him. So, the chances of having a peaceful morning were slim to none.

Peony patted his arm gently but did not speak and Scorpius was grateful for her silent understanding. Martin Creevey was the bane of Scorpius' life at Hogwarts and the fact that Creevey was actually friends with Albus Potter's boyfriend had not deterred him from starting the Slytherin Fairy Princess nickname. But Scorpius knew that Creevey hadn't started that because Scorpius was gay; he'd started it because he knew that Scorpius would hate it. And anything he could do to make Scorpius' life miserable, Creevey would do, because Creevey and his father blamed Scorpius' father for the death of Martin Creevey's uncle back in the Battle of Hogwarts.

Scorpius sighed again. Unfortunately, Martin Creevey was a popular Gryffindor, he was on the Quidditch team, and whilst he was not in the inner circle of Albus' friends, he was friends with Simon Crimshaw and that was enough to earn him some extra respect. So, that meant nobody interfered whenever Creevey decided to have a go at Scorpius. Not that anyone would have anyway, because Scorpius was a Malfoy.

The bell rang, making Scorpius jump, and Peony laughed. Scorpius poked his tongue out at her and she laughed again as they gathered up their books, grabbed their bags and wandered out of the Great Hall.

Scorpius lowered his head as they approached the Potions classroom and he saw the Gryffindors waiting outside – he wasn't trying to hide exactly but he thought it would probably be wise not to draw any attention to himself.

Unfortunately it didn't work.

"Hey there, Fairy Princess!"

The voice that Scorpius thought that he probably hated most in the world rang out through the hallway and Scorpius sighed wearily. Beside him Peony stiffened and stepped closer in a small show of support for which Scorpius felt absurdly grateful.

"When are you gonna stop disgracing those Hogwarts' robes and start wearing the pink, sparkly dress that we all know would suit you better," Creevey continued. "And grow some wings."

There were a few spurts of laughter amongst the other students in the corridor and Creevey looked around in a smug, satisfied way that made a small curl of anger unwind in Scorpius' stomach.

"What does it matter to you anyway?" he asked in a high, tight voice, surprising himself completely. "I don't harass you with the fact that you're ugly and unpleasant, so I don't understand why you care so much what _I_ look like."

There was a shocked silence, except for Peony's startled whisper of " _Scorp,_ _what_ _are_ _you_ _doing?_ _"_ _,_ and a few of the other students looked at him as if they'd never seen him before. Scorpius thought that was probably appropriate because he certainly didn't feel like himself, but somehow, after a summer of freedom from Creevey, he just wasn't ready to put up with him the way he usually did.

Creevey's face, after a moment of startled shock, was burning red with fury and he stepped closer to Scorpius, forcing him back against the wall.

"You're going to pay for that, Princess," he whispered, his breath hot on Scorpius' face.

"Hey, why is everyone still standing in the hallway?"

Creevey stepped back quickly and Scorpius saw that Rose Weasley and Albus Potter, both prefects, and Simon Crimshaw, were walking towards the large group gathered around the Potion's doorway.

"The Professor will be here in a sec," Rose Weasley continued. "So everyone get inside."

She strode into the classroom, Albus and Simon, holding hands, following her. As he passed them, Potter's eyes drifted over Scorpius and Peony and he smiled faintly but impersonally. It was obvious he'd seen nothing of what had occurred and Scorpius was relieved that his crush had not witnessed his humiliation. But still, it really was depressing to be so thankful that the boy he liked did not even seem to really know that he existed.

Potions had always been a favourite subject for Scorpius so it was irritating that he now shared the class with Creevey, but he and Peony snagged a desk as far away as possible from the Gryffindor and the first half hour went by peacefully enough.

Then there was a knock at the door and the Head Boy, James Potter looked in. He glanced at Professor Snorpatch and smiled at her questioning look.

"Is Scorpius Malfoy in here?" he asked.

Scorpius looked up in surprise, flushing, as every head in the room turned towards him.

"I'm Malfoy," he said.

"Oh, right," James Potter grinned. "Well, you'd better come with me. Headmistress wants to see you."

There was an outbreak of whispering as Scorpius packed his quills and parchment into his bag, but Professor Snorpatch quickly quietened the room.

Scorpius' mind was buzzing as he walked beside James Potter. Surely he wasn't going to get into trouble for what had happened in the hallway – it hadn't really been his fault – and how could Headmistress Sprout even know about it anyway? He shot a quick glance at the tall boy next to him and took a deep breath. He'd never actually spoken to him before, he'd never even been near him, but he was Albus' brother and that was enough to send Scorpius' already frazzled nerves into meltdown.

"Um… what's going on?" he finally managed to ask.

James Potter shook his head, but his smile was sympathetic. "Don't know," he said. "I'm on a free and I just got this message to get you."

"Oh," said Scorpius, and they continued the walk in silence.

Scorpius had never been to the Headmistress's office before but he'd heard about it so he wasn't surprised when James Potter stopped in front of a large stone gargoyle on the third floor, and said "Bubotuber" loudly. As the stairs appeared, Potter waved a hand cheerfully at Scorpius and wandered down the hallway. Scorpius watched him for a moment and then went up the stairs.

Professor Sprout was waiting for him at the top and she quickly bustled him into a chair, placed a cup of tea on the desk in front of him and then took her place opposite him. Scorpius blinked at her, absolutely mystified, and becoming steadily more worried at the serious look in her eyes.

"Teddy Lupin is on his way," the headmistress finally said, "but it will still be some time before he gets here."

_Teddy_ _Lupin?_ Scorpius frowned in utter confusion. He knew that Teddy Lupin's mother had been his father's cousin, and Scorpius had even met him once or twice, but why in Merlin's name would Professor Sprout pull him out of class in order to wait for a visit from _Teddy_ _Lupin?_

"I had better explain, although it's not easy." The headmistress sighed, and Scorpius realised that he was gaping at her in what was probably a very unattractive fashion and snapped his mouth shut.

"Early this morning your parents left London in a Muggle vehicle that I believe is referred to as a taxi."

"A _Muggle_ vehicle?" Scorpius was astonished and he gazed at the Professor in disbelief.

"Yes," she nodded, and then continued, "the Floo network at the hotel they were staying in was undergoing repairs."

Scorpius nodded, and after a moment the Professor sighed again.

"I'm very sorry, Scorpius," she said. "But the taxi was involved in some sort of accident with another Muggle vehicle and I'm afraid that both of your parents died at the scene."


	2. Chapter 2

"Teddy? Hey wait, Teddy. What are you doing here?"

Albus Potter raced along the hallway, skidded to a halt in front of a tall young man with blue hair, and grinned at him with excitement.

"Why aren't you in class, Albus?" Teddy Lupin asked with a slight smile that, Albus noted with concern, did not reach his eyes.

"I've just finished Potions and I've got a free. I was on my way to the library. Hey, what's wrong?" He took Teddy's arm and pulled him into an empty classroom, wondering if Teddy's volatile relationship with Victoire Weasley had finally ended with a broken engagement.

"Nothing you need to worry about," Teddy replied, with a sigh. "I'm here to see a student. Well, he's actually a relative."

"Who?" Albus asked. "Oh, I know. Malfoy. Is that why James took him to see the headmistress?

Teddy nodded. "Yeah. What's he like? I've only seen him a couple of times, but he's in your house isn't he?"

"Yeah," Albus said slowly. "But I'm not really friends with him. He's fairly quiet, actually. I think he's really only friends with the Zabini girl."

"Is she his girlfriend?"

"No," Albus said, with a grin. "He's never had a boyfriend but everyone knows he's gay."

"But he's not one of your set?"

Albus shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not friends with people just because they're gay like me. It's more that he's not part of the Quidditch crowd. I don't think he even flies a broom that often. He's sort of quiet and he only hangs around with girls, although I've only ever seen him do that when he's with Peony, so that might be just because he's friends with her. Actually some of the guys reckon he sort of looks a bit like a girl, he's kind of pretty looking I guess, and they even call him the Slytherin Fairy Princess."

Teddy glanced at him, frowning. "You might want to lay off on that sort of stuff."

" _I_ don't call him that," Albus replied, affronted. "Like I said, I don't really know him. Why all the interest in him anyway? It's not like you've ever had anything to do with him."

"Yeah, well that's about to change," Teddy said. "I've just become his legal guardian for, I guess, the next year at least. Merlin, I don't even know how old he is, but he's in your year, isn't he? So, sixteen?"

Albus nodded, thoroughly confused. "I think he's a bit younger than me, but yeah, he's a 6th year. But Teddy-"

Teddy interrupted him by placing a hand on his shoulder. "Look, I want you to keep this to yourself until the headmistress says something officially, Albus, but the Malfoy boy is going to go through a hard time. Both his parents have just died," his hand tightened at Albus' gasp, "and someone he hardly knows is now responsible for him. He's got no other family."

For a moment they stared at each other in silence and then Albus swallowed heavily, imagining what it would be like if his Mum and Dad were suddenly gone. And no Gran or Pop either, bustling around in the chaos of the Burrow, not to mention all of his aunts and uncles, and cousins. As annoying as it was sometimes, to be part of a large family, Albus could easily imagine how awful it would feel if he didn't have them.

"That… really sucks," he finally said, and grimaced at how inadequate it sounded, but he really couldn't think of another way to put it.

"Yeah," said Teddy softly, his voice strained, and Albus flushed as he remembered that Teddy had once been in a similar situation, even if he had been only a baby. "At least I had Andromeda for a while, and Harry, and all of you lot."

He reached out and gripped Albus' shoulder and grinned, and Albus smiled with relief. He'd never been that good with emotional, awkward moments.

"So, what are you going to do?" he asked.

"Well, I'll take him home until the funeral, I suppose," Teddy answered, thoughtfully. "Beyond that, I haven't had time to think about it all, but he'll come back here, of course."

Albus nodded as Teddy looked at his watch. "Sorry, Al, I've really got to go. Professor Sprout is waiting for me. I'll write to you later, yeah? And maybe you guys could keep an eye on Scorpius for me, when he comes back. Let me know how he's coping."

"Yeah, no problem," Albus said, waving as Teddy left the room.

Albus didn't go to the library, even though he knew that Rose and Simon were waiting for him there. Instead he went to the Great Hall. People sometimes studied there during the day and, for some reason he wanted to see when Teddy left, and there was a good view of the Entrance Hall from the Slytherin table.

Over the next half an hour Albus tried to concentrate on the book he was reading but every slight noise he heard from the direction of the Entrance Hall had him glancing in that direction. Usually it was only another senior student wandering through but finally Albus looked up and saw Teddy standing in the hall with Professor Sprout and a slight, hooded figure that Albus guessed was Scorpius Malfoy.

He watched the other boy for a moment. Scorpius was very still and even though Albus couldn't see his face he could tell that he wasn't paying any attention to the conversation between Teddy and the headmistress. Instead, he appeared to be staring at his own feet, as withdrawn and isolated as Albus had ever seen him, and Albus' heart swelled with sympathy for him.

Again Albus thought about what it would be like if he suddenly lost his family, and he swallowed heavily. A part of him wanted to speak to Scorpius, wanted to express that sympathy, but before he could even begin to think of what he would say, the group in the Entrance Hall separated and Teddy and Scorpius disappeared from his view. Albus sighed, almost with relief. After all, he actually couldn't even remember if he'd ever said a word to Scorpius Malfoy in all their time at Hogwarts, and perhaps now wasn't the best time to start.

Not long after that the bell rang for break and Albus realised, with a start, that he'd spent his entire free period sitting in the Great Hall. He grabbed his bag and quickly headed towards the library, hoping that Rose and Simon were still there.

He'd made it as far as the Quad when he heard Simon calling his name.

"Albus, you dimwit, where in Merlin's name have you been? Rose was almost frothing at the mouth that you were missing so much study time."

Albus rolled his eyes, as Simon grinned and grasped his hand.

"Rose can sod off," he said. "It's only the first day and we've only had one class. It's not like there's anything to really study yet."

Simon laughed. "Where were you though? I missed you, and there are all sorts of rumours going around. I heard that Scorpius Malfoy has been expelled."

"He hasn't been expelled," Albus said, frowning. "But he'll be gone for a few days, with Teddy Lupin."

"Ah, trust you to know something," said Simon. "What's going on? And why is he with Teddy?"

"Um… look, I'm sorry, Simon, I can't tell you yet, Teddy said not to," Albus said quickly, for he could see his two best friends approaching. "But I'm sure the Headmistress will say something at lunch and we'll talk about it then, yeah?"

Adrian Bole, one of the Slytherin Beaters, clapped Albus on the shoulder and Michael Lukas, a Slytherin Chaser, thumped him on the back.

Albus growled at the two of them, his best mates since first year, and then casually smacked both of them on the back of the head.

"Already disappearing, Al?" Adrian asked, laughing. "Although you misplaced the boyfriend."

Michael grinned at Simon and waggled his eyebrows. "Maybe you should start worrying, Simon."

Simon snorted. "Ha, ha, very funny. At worst I'll just put a bell on him."

"Oi!"

"Sorry, Al," Simon said, patting Albus' hand gently. "But you do tend to get distracted and wander off at times. It _would_ make it easier to find you again."

"Hmph," Albus said as the bell rang. "So, what do we have next?"

"Arithmancy," Adrian answered. "And after lunch, double DADA."

"I've got Ancient Runes," Simon said, pressing a kiss to Albus' cheek. "I'll see you at lunch, yeah?"

Albus nodded and followed his friends to the Arithmancy classroom. When he got there, he noted the empty seat beside Peony Zabini, and that the girl looked puzzled. Obviously she had not been told anything about Malfoy yet.

But the rest of the class and Zabini found out soon enough, when the Professor made a quiet announcement at the beginning of the class. There were a few startled gasps, and Albus thought that Peony looked like she wanted to say something, but the Professor quickly silenced the room and continued the lesson.

By the time he entered the Great Hall for lunch, it was obvious that instead of making an announcement, the Headmistress had opted to let the teachers individually inform their classes and then let the news spread from there. Albus had to admit that it was probably better than making a big fuss and he wondered if Scorpius had preferred it that way. He'd never seemed the type to want to draw a lot of attention.

Simon grabbed Albus' arm as he passed the Gyffindor table and drew him down onto the bench.

"So, that's why Teddy was here?" he asked.

"Teddy was here?" It was his sister, Lily, who asked, before Albus could reply, and he nodded to her across the table.

"Yeah, apparently he's Malfoy's guardian now," he replied. "Last remaining relative."

"Poor bloke," Rose said, from Albus' other side. "I hope Creevey and the other guys will lay off him for awhile."

Albus frowned at her, puzzled. "What are you-" he began, but Simon tugged on his arm and he turned to his boyfriend without finishing the question.

"I suppose that means he's sort of one of your family now," Simon said.

"Well, not really," Albus said. "I mean, we're not really related to Teddy. Dad's his godfather, and so he just got pulled into it. Oh, and he's engaged to Victoire, of course." He looked at Rose and then Lily. "But Teddy did ask me if we could sort of keep an eye on Malfoy when he got back. Let James and the others know will you?"

The girls nodded, and Simon laughed softly. "Merlin, he won't know what's hit him when he's surrounded by Potters and Weasleys."

Lunch continued, and they didn't talk about it anymore, mainly because there was nothing really to say. Albus looked over at the Slytherin table once and noticed that Peony Zabini was sitting in her usual place, but was pale and silent. He wondered how she felt, for there had been some rumours around that her parents hadn't been very happy about her friendship with Malfoy because her mother had never forgiven Scorpius' father for marrying someone else.

Eventually all the talk about Malfoy died down and the rest of the day passed in the usual Hogwarts fashion, but still Albus found his thoughts often returning to the image of that slight, cloaked figure he'd seen in the Entrance Hall with Teddy, and he wondered where they were and what they were doing now.

Finally, feeling the need for a distraction, Albus called an impromptu Quidditch team meeting, to discuss tryouts, and he didn't think of Scorpius Malfoy again until he woke up in the morning and saw his empty bed.


	3. Chapter 3

Scorpius followed Teddy Lupin along the road to Hogsmeade feeling as if he'd been stupefied. Somehow, he'd always thought that in a situation like this people immediately dissolved into tears, but that certainly wasn't what had happened to him.

He'd sat through the conversation between Teddy (he'd asked Scorpius to call him that) and the Headmistress, barely paying attention. He felt scattered and numb, unable to focus on anything, certainly not the fact that he would never see his parents again.

When they reached the outskirts of Hogsmeade, Teddy Lupin halted and looked around.

"We can apparate now," he said, and then frowned thoughtfully. "You know, that's strange, why didn't they apparate?" he muttered quietly, almost as if he'd forgotten that Scorpius was there.

"They wouldn't," Scorpius said, and from the way Teddy looked at him he could see that he hadn't expected Scorpius to answer the question. "Mother was terrified of apparation," he continued. "Even side-along. She'd splinched herself really badly once, you see."

"Ah," said Teddy, and then he rested a gentle hand on Scorpius' shoulder. Scorpius resisted the temptation to flinch away. "Are you all right with side-along?"

"Yes," said Scorpius. "But where are we going?"

"Well, I thought we'd go to the Manor," Teddy said. "The funeral will be there and…" he trailed off as Scorpius shook his head.

"I don't want to go there," Scorpius said, with certainty. He had only left there yesterday morning, after a cheerful breakfast with his parents, and the thought of going back to the empty manor now was unimaginable.

"All right," Teddy said softly, but he sounded perplexed. "Well, I only have a small bedsit in London and it really wouldn't do. The Burrow's still fairly crowded at the moment, it might be a bit much for you, but I guess we could go to Lilydale Cottage, it's near the Burrow and I know Harry and Ginny wouldn't mind."

Scorpius had been examining the pattern on a tree trunk nearby as Teddy had waffled on, but at the mention of Harry and Ginny, he looked up at Teddy Lupin in surprise.

"Harry Potter?" he asked.

"Yes," Teddy replied. "They offered, you know, but I thought that you'd want to go back to the Manor."

"But why?" Scorpius asked, frowning. It wasn't like his father and Harry Potter had been enemies anymore, but they'd certainly never been friends, as far as Scorpius knew.

"Well, Harry's my godfather. He and Ginny sort of raised me after my grandmother died," Teddy said. "And we both know what it's like to lose your parents, although we were only babies at the time."

Teddy's eyes were full of emotion and Scorpius quickly looked away and swallowed heavily, suddenly fighting tears for the first time. But he was a Malfoy, he told himself, and he wasn't going to cry in public. Or in front of someone he hardly knew, no matter how sympathetic he seemed.

Teddy's hand tightened on his shoulder. "Are you ready then?"

Scorpius took a deep breath and nodded, the world twisted, and the next moment they were standing in a leafy country lane. Teddy started walking immediately, and Scorpius followed him, but they didn't go far before Teddy stopped in front of a wooden gate set into a high hedge. On the gate was a decorative sign that said 'Lilydale Cottage'.

But really, 'cottage' wasn't an accurate description, Scorpius thought, as he followed Teddy along the path that meandered through riotous flowerbeds, towards the large two-storied house. Certainly it had an old world charm about it, with its thatched roof and higgledy-piggledy windows, but it was really too large to be called a 'cottage'.

The thought crossed his mind that this was Albus' home, this was where he lived when he wasn't at Hogwarts, and Scorpius wondered what it might have been like to grow up here, compared to the formality of Malfoy Manor.

Because from the moment the door opened and a slender, red-haired woman hurried down the path to meet them, Scorpius could see that there was never anything formal about life at 'Lilydale Cottage'.

"I'm so glad you came, Teddy," she was saying before she had even reached them, and the motherly smile that she directed at Teddy Lupin made Scorpius' eyes sting.

And then she was smiling at him.

"Hello Scorpius," she said, softly. "I know that we've never really met before, but I want you to know how welcome you are here. I only wish that it had been in better circumstances. I really am so sorry about this terrible accident."

Scorpius blinked and ducked his head, suddenly unable to quite get his breath. She seemed to understand though, because she merely reached out and touched his shoulder briefly, and then she ushered them into the house.

A man was standing in the entrance hall, and Scorpius felt his breath catch as he saw black hair and the green eyes of Albus Potter looking at him out of an older face. Scorpius had seen Harry Potter before, of course, but only from a distance, or on a broom during a Quidditch match, so he'd never realised the close resemblance between father and son.

"Hello," said Harry Potter, smiling at Scorpius. "Welcome to 'Lilydale Cottage' Scorpius."

"Thank you, Mr. Potter," Scorpius replied, finally finding his voice and holding out his hand.

"I'm glad you came," said Harry Potter, shaking Scorpius' hand with a firm grip. "And, please, call me Harry."

"And I'm Ginny," said Ginny Potter. "Teddy, why don't you settle Scorpius into the guest room and then come to the kitchen. We'll have some lunch in about an hour but there's tea made. I'm sure you could both do with a cup."

Both Ginny and Harry disappeared through a door and Scorpius followed Teddy up the stairs and down a long hallway with many rooms opening off it. After turning a corner, Teddy pushed open a door and waved Scorpius through.

The room was spacious and full of light from a large window. There was a double bed, a cupboard, a chest of drawers, a desk, and the thick carpet and many pillows on the bed gave the room a cosy, comfortable feel.

Scorpius wandered over to the window and looked out curiously. Below there seemed to be a vegetable garden and then a fence with a gate that lead out into hilly fields that spread to the horizon, with some stands of trees here and there, and he wasn't at all surprised to see Quidditch hoops in the distance. The Potters were a family of Quidditch players (Harry, himself, had only retired from the captaincy of Puddlemere United, and the English national team, the year before) so Scorpius thought he would have been more surprised if they hadn't had a private Quidditch pitch.

Behind him Teddy cleared his throat and Scorpius turned to look at him.

"I'll floo to the manor and collect some clothes for you," he said. "The funeral people will be there. Is there anything you'd like me to tell them?"

Scorpius shook his head and then frowned. "When is the funeral?" he asked.

"Thursday," Teddy replied. "I thought I'd take you back to Hogwarts on Sunday night, if that's what you'd like?"

"They won't mind?" Scorpius asked.

"Harry and Ginny? No, they really won't, Scorpius. Don't worry about that. Come on, I'll show you where the kitchen is. You'll probably end up spending a lot of time there. It seems to be the way of this house."

Teddy walked to the door and held it open, looking at Scorpius curiously when he didn't follow.

"It really will be all right," he said. "I promise."

Scorpius nodded. "Yes, I… I just… I wanted to say thank you, Teddy."

For a moment, Scorpius could have sworn that Teddy Lupin looked surprised, but the look was quickly replaced with a warm smile.

"You're a little different to what I expected," he said, and then laughed. "But I imagine I'm not what you thought I might be either. After all, I'm the son of a werewolf and a metamorphmagus. And I'm a metamorph, myself. But, we'll get through this together, Scorpius, all right?"

Scorpius nodded, his throat too tight to speak, and followed Teddy back through the house and into the kitchen.

This was a huge room, that seemed to run across the back of the entire house, and was rather more than just a kitchen, Scorpius thought. Yes, there were all the usual cupboards that one would expect, a huge cooking range, and a couple of dressers, loaded with chinaware. But as well as a large table and chairs, at one end of the room there was also a sofa and various soft looking armchairs were scattered around. The walls were covered in pictures, some were photos and others were drawings and sketches. Large, low windows looked out into the vegetable garden, and there were two doors that lead outside as well.

At the table, Harry and Ginny Potter were sitting, holding large cups of tea, and when Scorpius and Teddy entered Ginny jumped up and took another two cups from one of the dressers.

"Don't worry about me," said Teddy. "I've got to pop over to Malfoy Manor, but I'll be back for lunch."

Ginny nodded, as Teddy went to the large fireplace and threw in a handful of floo powder. A moment later he was gone.

Scorpius looked around, suddenly feeling very lost and alone, but a warm hand took his and he was drawn to the table and pushed into a chair. A large cup of tea was placed in front of him, and he took a sip gratefully.

"I'm just going to go out and pick some vegetables for a salad," Ginny Potter said, and when Scorpius looked up she was already gone.

"She loves cooking," Harry Potter said, and when Scorpius looked at him, he was smiling fondly.

"So does my mother," Scorpius said, without thinking, and then his breath caught in his throat and he was suddenly struggling against tears.

"It might be best to let it out, you know," said Harry, but Scorpius shook his head. He couldn't, not yet.

A few moments later he had regained control, and he took another sip of the hot, sweet tea. He looked around the room curiously, looking at the pictures on the walls. A lot of them appeared to be children's drawings and he wondered if Albus had done some of them. It was a surreal feeling to be sitting in the Potter house, somewhere he had certainly never expected to be in his entire lifetime. How had he ended up here, of all places?

"You're wondering why we wanted you to come here, aren't you?"

Scorpius jumped in his chair slightly, and flushed with embarrassment. There was something unsettling about Harry Potter and it lay in the fact, Scorpius decided, that there was something about him that seemed to invite one to confide in him. Scorpius had never met him before today, but he could well believe that Harry Potter was the Saviour of the Wizarding World.

Harry was smiling again, and he was looking at Scorpius expectantly, so, finally, Scorpius nodded.

"Well, yes," he said softly. "I mean it's very kind of you, but…" he trailed off as Harry waved a hand.

"Kindness had nothing to do with it," he said. "Teddy's family, and you are Teddy's family. We wanted to have you here. But aside from that…"

Scorpius frowned slightly as Harry's gaze seemed to reach into a distance that wasn't part of the kitchen. After a moment, his eyes snapped back to Scorpius, full of sadness.

"Your father and I were never friends," he said. "But there were moments when we could have been, and I've always felt that perhaps we should have been. But a lot happened, Scorpius, and in the end, at least we could respect each other. And now, the chance for friendship is gone forever. Chances can pass too quickly, Scorpius, if you don't take them, and so I don't want to lose the chance to help you, to be _your_ friend, the way the chance was lost with your father. I owe that to him. Does that make any sense to you?"

"Yes," Scorpius forced himself to whisper. "Yes, it does."

And he did understand, for his father had once, and only once, spoken to Scorpius about Harry Potter, and he too had talked of missed chances, with that same sadness in his eyes. It had made Scorpius heart ache at the time, and it made it ache now, and he thought that maybe, one day soon, he would be able to tell Harry Potter about it.

But, for the moment, Scorpius sat in the gentle quiet of the kitchen, broken only by the ticking of one clock, and took comfort in the strong, reassuring presence of Harry Potter.

* * *

The two days leading up to the funeral were a bit of a blur to Scorpius. As Teddy had predicted he seemed to spend most of his time in the kitchen, curled up on the sofa with a book from the Potter's well-stocked library.

But he didn't read very much, instead he often found himself drifting, not really thinking of anything. Occasionally he would watch Ginny as she bustled around the kitchen. She appeared to be making various pickles and relishes from vegetables in the garden, and Scorpius eventually caught a glimpse of her well-stocked pantry. And that was when he remembered that Ginny was actually Mrs. Potters' Pickles.

She had laughed when she had seen his amazed expression as he'd looked at all of the jars in the pantry.

"I never thought I'd do this you know," she said. "My Mum was always in the kitchen, still is, looking after everybody, and I really didn't want to be like that. I wanted a career. But when I was injured in my third season with the Harpies, I found myself spending a lot of time in that kitchen with Mum. And I don't know, I sort of got into it, and the next thing I know here I am, just like my Mum, except I've made a business out of it." She looked around the pantry and sighed. "I love it, you know."

"My father always said that your green tomato relish was the best," Scorpius said, and Ginny blinked and then smiled widely.

"I'm glad," she said, simply.

In the evenings Harry and Teddy would return from the Ministry, where Harry was the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports and Teddy was an Auror. Then Scorpius would sit at the table after dinner and listen to the three of them talk, appreciating the fact that they never pressured him to join in. They seemed to understand that he couldn't.

The nights were difficult though, for as he lay in bed there was no distraction and it was a harder battle to keep his mind blank. He knew that eventually it was a battle he would lose, but for some reason all Scorpius wanted was to get through the funeral without actually thinking about it.

The day of the funeral, Scorpius woke from a restless sleep with heavy, itchy eyes, but at least he had slept a little, he thought, as he got dressed. He found Teddy in the kitchen, drinking a cup of tea, and was suddenly thankful that someone else was up just as early as he was.

"You look tired," Teddy said, his voice full of sympathy. "I know I didn't sleep much before my grandmother's funeral."

Scorpius nodded and Teddy rested a hand on his shoulder.

"They're at the manor, you know," he said. "Would you like me to take you there early, so you can see them?"

Scorpius froze, his heart suddenly pounding in his chest. If he saw them, they would be dead. Really dead.

"I'll be with you," Teddy said quietly, and Scorpius took a deep breath and found himself nodding.

"All right," he finally whispered.

They went by floo, and Scorpius blinked when they arrived for the Main Hall of the Manor was full of flowers. At one end, two ornate coffins lay on biers, one black and one white, and Scorpius gasped at the sight of them.

He walked closer and saw that the coffins were still open. His parents glimmered slightly from some sort of spell, but aside from that, they merely looked asleep, and Scorpius had a feeling that was the point of the spell. But still, there was a sort of absence about them, that made it clear in no uncertain terms that they would never wake up.

"It's just not fair," Scorpius said, whether to them or Teddy he wasn't sure.

"I know," Teddy said. "It's not."

"They were all I had," Scorpius said, and anger was seeping into his voice, he could hear it, but he couldn't stop it. "They shouldn't have left me like this."

"They didn't want to," Teddy said, his hand gripping Scorpius' shoulder, and that was all it took. Suddenly, Scorpius could feel the hot tears sliding down his cheeks and his chest heaved from the sobs that he could no longer hold back.

Beside him Teddy muttered something that sounded like 'finally' and he was pulled around into a strong embrace. For once grateful for his lack of height, Scorpius hid his face against Teddy's shoulder, his cheeks burning with embarrassment, but he could not stop. It was like a floodgate was opened and his mind was swamped with memories of his parents, memories that he knew he would have to hold onto, for there would never be any new ones.

Teddy was silent, for which Scorpius was grateful. He could not have borne to hear the standard words of sympathy and reassurance at that moment but he supposed if anyone understood that, it would be Teddy Lupin.

He had no idea how long it was before he managed to gain some sort of control over himself and the tears finally stopped, leaving him with heavy eyes, a tight chest and a slight headache, but eventually he sighed and pulled away from Teddy.

"How long until…?" he asked, and he winced at the raw sound of his own voice.

"An hour," Teddy answered. "Why don't you lie down for a while in the sitting room, get some rest."

Scorpius nodded. "Thank you," he whispered, finally meeting Teddy's eyes.

Teddy smiled. "No problem," he said.

Scorpius glanced at the coffins one more time, and then went into the sitting room, and sat down on his mother's favourite sofa.

He felt empty.

* * *

The funeral was finally over and Scorpius was profoundly grateful. There had been more people than he had expected there, people from the Ministry, business colleagues of his father's, friends of his mother, and a lot more of them that Scorpius had never even met before, but they had all still seemed to want to talk to him.

Luckily Teddy, Ginny or Harry had always somehow been nearby when Scorpius had been at a loss, and they had swooped in and rescued him, or that was certainly the way it felt to Scorpius. Then, eventually, the moment came when the last of the stragglers left and Ginny had looked at Scorpius and smiled.

"Would you like to stay here for a while?" she had asked. "Or shall we go home and have the strongest cup of tea that I can possibly make?"

And Scorpius had nodded, with relief, before he'd really even thought about what she had said, but a moment later he realised the truth of it. Malfoy Manor did not feel like his home anymore. He supposed that one day it might be again but for now, he thought as he took one last look around the sitting room before he flooed away, it wasn't.

When they got back to the kitchen at Lilydale Cottage, Scorpius wondered where exactly his home was now.

* * *

The next morning, Scorpius got up after a restless night, showered, got dressed and then stood in front of the tall mirror on the door of the cupboard in his room and looked at himself. So much had changed in his life in the last few days that he almost expected not to recognise himself, and he was surprised at the feeling of disappointment he had when he saw that he looked the same as ever.

He was still too short, too slight, too pale, and his hair was still too long. Ever since he could remember, Scorpius had worn his hair in the traditional Malfoy fashion, one length combed back below his ears, and he'd always hated it. He'd sometimes thought that the reason the Slytherin Fairy Princess name had stuck to him so thoroughly had been because of his hair, and once out of desperation he'd asked his father if he could cut it. He'd never forgotten the look of disappointed astonishment on his father's face, and he'd never asked again.

But his father was gone now, and Scorpius was on his own, and somehow he needed to feel different.

He took his wand in his hand and gazed at it, but he was still underage and not supposed to use magic out of Hogwarts, and besides that, he really didn't know any good hair alteration charms.

His glanced around the room, at a loss, and finally his eyes fell upon the chest of drawers. It was set up as a sort of dressing table and Scorpius opened one of the two top drawers and crowed in triumph when he immediately found a pair of scissors.

* * *

"Scorpius, there you are, your breakfast is on… oh dear," Ginny Potter faltered into silence and gazed at Scorpius in astonishment, and Scorpius felt his face flame because, no, the cutting his hair with nail scissors thing hadn't really gone so well. He was only thankful that Harry and Teddy had already left for the Ministry.

"I wanted to have short hair," Scorpius said, rather pointlessly he thought, but he had to say something.

"I see," said Ginny, with a smile. "Well, you know, I've seen worse. James and Albus decided to cut Lily's hair quite a few times, you know, so I really got rather good at repairing the damage. Have your breakfast and then I'll do the same for you if you like."

Scorpius sighed and nodded gratefully.

* * *

Half an hour later Ginny finally pocketed her wand and sat down beside Scorpius on the sunny bench in the garden.

"You know," she said, "it really suits you." Then she winked. "I think the girls will all approve."

Scorpius blushed and shook his head.

"Or perhaps you'd prefer the boys to approve," Ginny said, with a laugh, and her smile deepened when Scorpius nodded. He wondered if she'd be so happy if she knew about his hopeless infatuation for her son. The one that already had a boyfriend… and he sighed despondently.

Suddenly Ginny reached over and took his hand.

"I know how hard it is, Scorpius," she said, her voice soft. "I was not much older than you when I lost one of my brothers, and as well as my own pain, I watched his twin struggle with the loss and, for a while, it was like we had lost both of them. Oh, yes, he eventually recovered and, in a way, we have my brother Ron to thank, because Ron didn't let him give up on the business that he'd had with Fred. And through that, he showed George that he shouldn't give up on all the little, simple, joyful moments of life that make being alive worthwhile. So, I want to say the same to you, Scorpius, don't give up on those little moments, even if it's just a smile from a cute boy that you like."

Scorpius blinked rapidly against the sting of tears in his eyes, but eventually he let them fall and he found himself squeezing Ginny's hand and leaning against her shoulder. They sat like that for quite a while, in the peaceful garden, and when they finally went back into the kitchen, Scorpius realised that this time, he didn't feel empty.

* * *

Saturday was Scorpius' last full day at Lilydale Cottage and it was with some trepidation that he found himself surrounded by Weasleys. He supposed that he shouldn't have been so surprised by this, they were, after all, known to be a close-knit family, but it was just that there were so many of them, even with the younger members away at school.

Teddy's fiancée, Victoire, was there along with her parents, and as well as Ginny's parents there was another two of Ginny's brothers, George and Ron, and perhaps most daunting of all Ron's wife, Hermione, who, it was widely rumoured, would probably be the next Minister of Magic.

And it was obvious just how close they all were. Endless jokes that only they seemed to understand only bewildered Scorpius and it was overwhelming for one that had been from such a small family to see the chaos that could surround a large one. He could only imagine what it was like when their children were there as well and shuddered slightly at the thought of the sheer volume of noise there would be.

Lunch seemed to filter into dinner as they all sat around the table talking and eventually as much for an escape as a wish to be useful, Scorpius began to clear the table. Ginny smiled at him gratefully, but Scorpius noticed Ron Weasley gaping at him in amazement, and he felt himself flush at the attention.

"Well, that's something I never thought I'd see," said Ron Weasely, and then he winced as his wife obviously kicked him under the table.

"Ronald," she said, a wealth of warning in her voice.

"No, 'mione, you have to admit that after the all the years that Malfoy spent-" Ron began, but he was interrupted swiftly by his sister.

"Scorpius told me," she said, "that his father was very fond of my green tomato relish."

Scorpius frowned slightly, and he noted the frown on Ron's face as well, for Ginny's tone of voice seemed to contain meaning beyond her words.

"Oh," said Ron, blankly.

Ginny's brother, George, seemed to be trying not to laugh at Ron and Scorpius suddenly remembered what Ginny had said about them the day before.

"Yes," Scorpius said, nodding, and he smiled shyly at George. "And, every Christmas he used to give me a gift box from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes."

"Oh," said Molly Weasley suddenly, and everyone jumped slightly. "You dear, sweet boy."

Scorpius felt his face flame with burning embarrassment and he almost dropped the teapot he was holding, and then suddenly Ron Weasley was standing beside him patting him on the shoulder.

"Well, there you go, Scorpius," he said. "You've now been embarrassed by my mother. There's no point in my apologising for it, I'm afraid, because it's only going to happen every time she sees you. Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

"Ronald," said Molly Weasley and Hermione at the same time, both of them sounding fond.

Scorpius blinked at Ron's solemn expression and then smiled, with some relief, when he saw the twinkle in Ron Weasley's eye. His father had told him once that the Weasleys were all a bit mad, and Scorpius now found himself believing it.

* * *

The next morning Scorpius woke and his heart sank a little at the thought of returning to Hogwarts. He'd felt safe at Lilydale Cottage, and he knew that he'd have to face the whispers and gossip when he got back to school. He wasn't even sure if he could talk about what had happened with Peony yet, so the idea of hearing people who weren't his friends talking about it was daunting.

And once he was back at school, back in his normal life, it would all be so real as well. He knew he couldn't hide from it forever, but a part of him wished that he could hide in the kitchen of Lilydale Cottage, in Ginny's comforting presence, for just a little longer.

He wanted to thank her in some way, not just with words, but with some sort of gesture that would mean something to her. He'd heard Harry telling Teddy that he wanted to plant a wildflower meadow near the house because Ginny loved them so much, so after lunch, Scorpius wandered out into the fields beyond the Potter Quidditch pitch.

It was quite a walk, and thankfully there had been no rain, so at least there was no mud but it was still something that Scorpius wouldn't normally enjoy, and he sighed regretfully when he saw the dirt on his shoes and along the bottom of his trousers.

But still, when he presented Ginny with a large bouquet of blooms and he saw the sudden moisture in her eyes just before she hugged him tightly, Scorpius thought that it was worth it.

When she let him go, she pressed a swift kiss to his cheek, and then Harry shook his hand. Then Scorpius followed Teddy through the gate into the lane and they apparated to Hogsmeade.


	4. Chapter 4

Apart from hearing his name occasionally throughout the week, Albus Potter didn't really think much more about Scorpius Malfoy until Thursday when he got the owl from Teddy telling him that Scorpius was at Lilydale Cottage.

For some reason, the idea of Scorpius at his own home astonished Albus, and when he visited the Gryffindor common room and told James and Lily about it, he could see they felt the same.

"Oh Merlin," said their cousin Hugo, for both he and Rose were also present, "I wonder how Dad will take that."

Albus winced slightly for they had all heard at various times his Uncle Ron's complaints about Draco Malfoy, but Rose merely snorted.

"Scorpius is not at all like the way Dad describes what his father was like at that age," she said. "Besides, Mum will keep Dad in line."

Hugo grinned, but Albus was gazing at Rose.

"I didn't think you knew Malfoy that well," he said, curiously.

"Oh for goodness sake, Al," she answered, rolling her eyes. "I have the power of observation, and considering that he's actually in Slytherin with you, I would have thought that you would have noticed it as much as I have."

"Noticed what?" Albus asked, dumbfounded.

"Well, from the way that Dad described Draco Malfoy, do you think he would have put up with half the teasing that Scorpius does, without looking for revenge?"

"Yeah, you have a point, Rose," James said, while Al thought about it. "I don't think he's ever even tried to hex anyone. I wonder why."

"Various reasons, I would say," said Rose. "Firstly, I suspect he's fairly shy and he doesn't like calling attention to himself. And I think he's clever enough to realise that it wouldn't really change anything, it might even make it worse, but most of all, and I hate to say it, he knows that no one would really stick up for him if he did."

"Still, it's just a bit of name-calling," Albus said. "And everyone gets some of that at one time or another."

"Hmmm," Rose murmured, and she looked doubtful but before Al could ask her why, Simon came in, and the subject was changed.

* * *

They didn't talk about Scorpius Malfoy again, and Albus was preoccupied with Quidditch trials on Saturday, so the thought of Scorpius didn't enter his head again until late Sunday evening when he walked into his dorm and found a strange boy standing in front of the dorm window. He appeared to be watching the fish in the lake, and Albus halted beside his bed and looked at the boy in confusion.

"Oh, hello," he said. "Are you new?"

Then the boy turned around, with an incredulous look, and Albus felt like a bit of an idiot. But in his defence, he thought, Scorpius Malfoy did look surprisingly different with short hair. It stood up in soft looking little tufty spikes on the top of his head, adding length to his face and making his fine features stand out more, particularly his eyes. It suited him, Albus decided, and whilst he was still sort of pretty looking, it gave him more of a cute boyish look than he'd had before.

Scorpius was still staring at him though, and Albus found himself struggling to find something to say.

"You cut your hair," he finally said, and almost rolled his eyes because, really, of all the stupidly obvious things to say.

"Yes," Scorpius replied, in a soft voice, and his pale cheeks suddenly looked a little pinker. "Your mother did actually."

"It looks good," Albus said with a grin and stepped closer. The grin faded as he noticed the dark circles under Scorpius' eyes.

"Are you all right?" he asked before he could stop himself, and this time he almost whacked himself in the head, because that really was a stupid thing to ask under the circumstances. "I mean, I'm sorry about…" he continued, but before he could finish Adrian and Michael burst into the room.

"Hey Al," Michael shouted. "Adrian says you're actually considering that second year kid as a chaser… oh."

Both boys stopped and gazed at Scorpius Malfoy in amazement, and Albus contemplated kicking them.

"Oh, hi, Malfoy," said Adrian. "Yeah, we were sorry to hear about your parents. That really sucks, you know."

Albus, who was still watching Scorpius closely, saw the slight flinch that these words caused and immediately stepped on Adrian's foot. Adrian, used to this sort of treatment, didn't even react other then to fall silent.

"Thank you," Scorpius said quietly, after a moment of tense silence.

"Um… sure," said Adrian. "You know, Peony Zabini was just talking about you in the common room. She was wondering when you'd be back, so I'm sure she'd love to see you."

Scorpius blinked, then nodded, and quickly left the room, and Albus rounded on Adrian with a furious look.

"What did you do that for?"

"What?"

"You practically threw him out of the room, you moron," Albus yelled, waving his hands in the air. "Did it not occur to you that he might not want to face the common room yet?"

"Well…" Adrian faltered, glancing at Michael in confusion, "well… we needed to talk to you about the team."

"Merlin, we could do that anywhere," Albus said, lowering his voice as his anger faded. "You are such an idiot sometimes that I wonder why I'm friends with you."

"At least I'm a charming idiot," Adrian replied, grinning.

"I don't know about that," Albus said, snidely. "And I can't talk now anyway. I'm supposed to be meeting Simon in that empty third floor classroom in ten minutes."

"Ooooh, well, you wouldn't want to miss that," Adrian said, with a leering look and Michael waggled his eyebrows.

Albus rolled his eyes. "You both really need to get girlfriends," he said, and strolled out of the room.

It was late when Albus got back to the dorm and everyone else was in bed. He stared for a moment at the closed curtains around Malfoy's four-poster and regretted for a moment that he hadn't been able to tell the boy how badly he felt for him. But maybe it was for the best, he thought as he climbed into bed and pulled his own curtains shut, for Scorpius hadn't really seemed to appreciate Adrian's pitiful attempt and the way Albus had been talking to him before that hadn't boded well for his own version. It was really very difficult to know what to say to someone in Scorpius' situation, and it wasn't as if they'd ever been friends, so perhaps Scorpius would actually prefer it if Albus didn't say anything at all.

Albus stretched tiredly in his bed and his mind drifted pleasantly to other things before he finally went to sleep.

* * *

Albus woke late to an empty dorm room, and scrambled into the bathroom at a frantic run, quickly showering, dressing, and then bolting down to the Great Hall for breakfast. He took his usual seat between Adrian and Michael, and then glanced a little further up the table to where Malfoy usually sat with Peony Zabini.

Scorpius was there, looking pale as usual, but even from a distance Albus could see the darkness around his eyes.

"I wonder if he actually slept at all," he muttered.

"What? Who?" Michael asked, looking around in confusion.

"Stop that," Albus whispered. "I meant Malfoy."

"Oh," said Adrian, giving Albus one of his leering looks. "I thought you meant Simon."

Albus thumped him on the arm. Hard. "Really, idiot? Seriously, you do need to get a girlfriend." He raised an eyebrow as his friend flushed, and then narrowed his eyes when he saw Adrian glance along the table towards Peony Zabini.

"So, why all the concern about Malfoy?" Michael asked, before Albus could say anything.

"Well… for Merlin's sake, he just lost his family," Albus whispered. "And besides that, Teddy asked me to keep an eye on him."

"Well, it looks like Zabini's taking care of him, so you don't need to worry," Michael said, and Albus looked up the table and saw that Peony Zabini was piling food on Malfoy's plate.

"Oh. Good," Albus said.

But still, after the bell had rung and they had all trooped to the Potion's classroom, Albus found himself still watching Scorpius Malfoy. He sat beside Simon and studied Malfoy surreptitiously throughout the morning, until Simon thumped him on the arm and told him to concentrate on the potion they were supposed to be making.

Scorpius disappeared after the lesson and Albus spent the free period in the library with Rose and Simon so he didn't see the other boy again until their Arithmancy lesson with the Ravenclaws, where it was obvious that he was struggling to concentrate. Which, judging by Peony's concerned glances, was not normal behaviour for Malfoy.

Still, Albus thought, it was only Malfoy's first day back - he was bound to be unfocused after everything that had happened - so Albus decided it would be a good idea to wait a few days to see what happened before writing to Teddy.

Albus sat at the Gyrffindor table for lunch and then went down to the lake with Simon for a while before the bell rang for class, and it was with a twinge of guilt that he walked into the Defence against the Dark Arts room with Simon, and realised that Scorpius wasn't there.

"Where's Malfoy?" he whispered to Michael.

"Oh, he's not doing DADA," said Michael. "He's in that special Alchemy class that they made up out of all the houses. Rose is in it too. Didn't she tell you about it?"

Albus shook his head, and couldn't help feeling a little relieved. At least Rose could keep an eye on Malfoy, and Albus could forget about it for a while.

He didn't see Scorpius again until after the Slytherin team's first Quidditch practice, and it hadn't gone well so he wasn't in the best of moods. He stormed into the Slytherin dorm, and halted at the sight of Malfoy standing near the window, once again watching the fish swimming by.

"Oh, sorry," he said, realising that the door slamming behind him had made the other boy jump.

Scorpius didn't say anything, he just nodded, and as Albus moved into the room he could see that the other boy's cheeks were flushed. He hoped that he hadn't walked in on Malfoy crying and it was with relief that he saw that his grey eyes were dry.

"So, um, you stayed with Mum and Dad," Albus said, as he sat on the end of his bed.

Scorpius nodded again, but at least this time he gave a slight smile.

"Yes," he said after a moment in a soft, quiet voice. "Your family were very kind to me."

"Yeah, Mum and Dad are great," said Albus, grinning at the other boy. "Did you meet any of the others? Like Uncle George and Uncle Ron?"

He wasn't sure if he should ask the question because anything could have happened with Uncle Ron, but Albus was relieved when he saw the brief gleam of amusement in Scorpius' eyes.

"Yes," he said. "And also your grandmother."

"Oh Merlin," Albus laughed. "Well, at least there's nothing worse than that. Mind you, Uncle Percy can be a right pill, but we don't see him as often. He travels a lot 'on important business for the Ministry' he says, but Uncle George reckons he's actually studying different manufacturing methods for paper clips." He paused, noting the bewildered expression on Scorpius' face. "You did realise the Weasleys are all mad, didn't you?"

A short, silvery peal of laughter came from Scorpius before he smothered it with a hand over his mouth, and Albus realised, with some surprise that he'd never heard the other boy laugh before. Still, they'd never spent much time together so that was probably natural, he reflected. But it was a nice laugh, and Albus decided he wouldn't mind hearing it again.

However, before he could think of anything to say that might make that happen, the door opened and Adrian and Michael came in, and when Albus looked towards the window again, Scorpius was gone.

* * *

The next morning Albus woke early, and after dressing he sat in the common room, catching up on some homework. Slowly other students began to wander into the room, drifting through and meeting up with friends before heading to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Albus had just finished his parchment and was putting it into his bag, when he looked up and saw Scorpius enter the room, closely followed by Peony Zabini. It was immediately obvious to Albus that Scorpius had probably hardly slept for he looked worse than he had the day before, but before he could react Peony had grabbed Scorpius' arm and pulled him into a hug.

Even from across the room, Albus could see that Scorpius was uncomfortable, and Peony must have felt it too, because she pulled away quickly and then pressed an envelope into Malfoy's hand. Scorpius glanced around the room, quickly stuffed the envelope into his bag, and whispered something to Peony as they left the common room, and Albus was left wondering exactly what it was that he'd just witnessed.

He watched them throughout breakfast and the odd behaviour continued, for Scorpius kept his eyes glued to the table, except for one brief glance upwards when the owls started to arrive, after which Albus saw Peony gripping Scorpius' hand tightly.

His concern grew throughout the morning as Scorpius continued to sit in a daze during all of their classes, barely writing any notes. He wasn't at lunch and when after the lunch break Albus went to the library, Scorpius wasn't there either.

The Slytherin Sixth years had a double free period on Tuesday afternoons, and it was generally understood that they were to spend that time studying in the library. It wasn't a firm rule, so Scorpius wouldn't get a detention or lose points, but all the same, it worried Albus that the other boy wasn't there because he didn't think he'd ever seen Scorpius miss a study session.

After half an hour, Albus gave up. He couldn't concentrate. Teddy had asked them to keep an eye on Scorpius, and Albus had a feeling that something was very wrong. And by the look of Peony's tight, white face he had a feeling she thought so too.

"I'm taking a quick break," Albus whispered to Adrian, and before the other boy could say anything he quickly left the library.

He tried a couple of the study halls first, just in case Scorpius was working alone somewhere, but finally Albus went to the Slytherin dungeons. The common room was empty, except for a couple of Seventh years, who waved at Albus as he walked through to go to his dorm room where he finally found Scorpius Malfoy, fast asleep on his bed.

Albus hovered for a moment, reluctant to wake the sleeping boy. Then, as he quietly moved closer he saw the tear tracks on Scorpius' cheeks and frowned. Something white on the floor caught Albus' eye and he bent down to pick it up. It was an open envelope, and Albus was absolutely certain that it was the envelope that Peony had given to Scorpius that morning.

A battle waged in Albus as he stared at the envelope in his hand. Never before had he even considered snooping into someone else's belongings but he had a feeling that whatever was in the envelope was important.

He glanced at Scorpius' flushed face again, the dark circles under his eyes and the evidence of his tears on his cheeks, and Albus opened the envelope.

Inside was a Sixteenth birthday card.

* * *

Ten minutes later Albus strode swiftly into the library and up to Peony Zabini's table. She jumped when he placed a hand on her shoulder and a few of the girls at the table tittered.

"We need to talk," he said, firmly.

Peony frowned. "So, talk," she said.

Albus tapped the Prefect badge on his robes. "Outside, Zabini. Now."

There were a few more titters as Peony rose from the table and followed Albus out of the library but they both ignored them. Once outside in the empty corridor, Albus rounded on Peony with a fierce glare.

"Why the bloody hell didn't you tell me that it was Malfoy's birthday?"

Peony Zabini placed her hands on her hips and returned Albus' glare.

"Why the bloody hell would I?" she said.

"Because he's just lost his parents and he shouldn't be alone. Not today."

Peony snorted. "And why exactly do you suddenly care about that? You've never even noticed him before."

To his annoyance Albus felt his face flush and Peony smirked at him.

"Look," he finally said, in a quieter tone. "His guardian asked me… my family… to look out for him. And Teddy would kill me if I let him forget that it was Scorpius birthday – if I let him spend it alone."

He saw the anger fade from Peony Zabini's eyes and she shrugged her shoulders.

"Potter, maybe it would be best if you did. Scorpius didn't really react that well when I gave him the card. I think it was a bit of a mistake on my part to remind him of it, but I felt the same way you do."

"No, Peony," Albus said, shaking his head. "I don't think that Scorpius would have needed reminding that it was his birthday, I imagine he spent most of the night remembering it. But, do you really think his memories of his Sixteenth birthday should be that he was alone and hurting?"

Peony's only response was a pained grimace. Albus made an instant decision, grabbed Peony's arm, and started pulling her along the hallway.

"Where are we going?" she asked, sounding alarmed.

"I need to talk to Rose," Albus replied.

"But she's in class," said Peony.

"Doesn't matter."

Eventually they reached the Charms classroom and Albus knocked on the door.

"Excuse me, Professor," he said to ancient Professor Flitwick, "but could I see Rose Weasley? I… um… need another Prefect for something."

Professor Flitwick gave his permission and Rose joined them in the hallway, looking very confused.

"Just what are you up to, Al?" she asked, suspicion growing in her eyes.

"Shut up and listen," Albus replied, and then fully explained the situation. Once he was finished, Rose nodded her head.

"We have to tell Teddy," she said, immediately.

"An owl wouldn't get there in time," Albus replied.

"I know," said Rose, after a moment of hard thinking. "Either Uncle George or Uncle Ron would be at the shop in Hogsmeade. If we owl them, they could apparate or floo call to Teddy, or Mum and Dad."

"Bloody brilliant, Rose," Albus crowed, and he gripped her face and placed a loud, smacking kiss on her forehead.

Rose, looking disgusted, immediately punched him in the shoulder, and Peony laughed, and grabbed them both by the arms.

"Let's get to the Owlery then," she said.

* * *

By the time classes ended for the day, they had a response from Teddy, and Albus was jubilant.

> _Al,_ (the letter said)
> 
> _I owe you big time for this. I can't believe that I missed this but it's been a bit overwhelming dealing with this guardianship and putting everything into Trust for Scorpius, and I didn't even think to check on when his birthday was. Again, I owe you._
> 
> _I talked to your Mum and Dad, and we decided what to do. We'll be in Hogsmeade tonight at the Three Broomsticks and we have permission from Headmistress Sprout for you to meet us there with Scorpius. The Headmistress was a little difficult to persuade so just bring the usual suspects and this friend of Scorpius' that you mentioned. Six o'clock._
> 
> _See you then_
> 
> _Teddy_

He sent Rose to collect James, Lily, Hugo and Simon from the Gryffindor common room, and dragged Peony back to the Slytherin Dungeons, but as soon as they got to the common room he looked at Peony in confusion.

"So, um, how do we go about this?" Albus finally asked. "Do we tell him? Or should it be a surprise? And what if he doesn't want to come with us to Hogsmeade, what do we do then?"

Peony rolled her eyes. "Typical boy," she said, ignoring Albus' noise of protest. "I mean, you didn't think of any of this until now, did you? Look, just get him out of the dorm and I'll do the rest. I'm probably better at lying than you, anyway."

"I wouldn't count on it," Albus muttered as he left the common room.

Albus' heart sank when he saw Scorpius' empty bed, because they really did not have time to search the castle for him, even if James did have the Marauder's Map. But a moment later the bathroom door opened and to Albus' relief, Scorpius wandered out.

"Malfoy," Albus said. "Um… you need to come down to the common room."

Scorpius narrowed his eyes. "What for?" he asked suspiciously.

"We're going to Hogsmeade," Albus said. "My brother James, you know he's the Head Boy?" He paused, and Scorpius nodded. "Well, the Headmistress wants him to go to Spintwitches about some brooms or something and she said he could take some senior students with him."

Scorpius seemed to be frozen with amazement so Albus took his hand and tugged him out of the room, grateful when Scorpius didn't resist.

"But why me?" Scorpius finally said, sounding breathless.

"Well, Rose wanted Peony to go and Peony thought that you might like to go as well," Albus said, as they entered the common room.

Scorpius still looked bewildered and he looked at Peony doubtfully. "I didn't know you were that friendly with Rose Weasley," he said.

Peony gave Albus a look that made him very glad she wasn't holding her wand.

"We have a mutual interest in knitting," she said, and took both of them by the arms and pulled them out of the door.

* * *

It was a strange walk to Hogsmeade. After telling Peony that he couldn't remember ever having seen her knit and then accepting her explanation that it was a recent hobby, Scorpius fell silent and seemed to fall into another daze, whilst, oddly enough, Rose and Peony became involved in a lengthy discussion of knitting patterns.

Albus walked beside Simon and hoped that Scorpius would come out of it once they reached the Three Broomsticks. But at least his parents and Teddy would be there, Albus thought gratefully, so they could handle any difficulties.

"You've had a busy afternoon," Simon said, taking Albus' hand. "Off to the rescue, was it?"

"You would have done the same thing," Albus said, defensively.

Simon squeezed his hand and then pressed a quick kiss to Albus' lips.

"You did the right thing, Al," he said. "But be careful with Scorpius, yeah."

Albus frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, he's vulnerable at the moment," Simon replied. "And you've always liked to play the 'Knight in Shining Armour'. We don't want him getting too attached to you."

Albus' frown deepened but he kept his voice low because James and his girlfriend were walking just ahead of them.

"Are you saying I shouldn't be friends with him?

Simon shrugged. "Why do you think you should be friends with him now? You never were before."

"That's not a good reason to not start a friendship with someone," Albus said firmly. "Scorpius could turn out to be a great friend and I'd never know if I didn't give it a go."

"I'm just saying that the fact that his parents have died isn't really a good reason for you to be running around after him when you were never bothered with him before. From our point of view, his situation doesn't really change anything. Besides that, he's a Malfoy."

"What exactly do you mean by that?"

"You know what I mean, Al," Simon said, squeezing his hand. "Malfoys can't be trusted. Everyone knows that."

Albus was speechless. His mind was buzzing with a thousand thoughts of all the reasons that Simon was wrong, but he couldn't formulate any of them into words because he could not get over the fact that it was Simon, _his_ Simon, who was talking such utter rubbish.

And, sure, they'd had arguments before, but never had Simon so completely floored him with something he'd said, the way he had now.

"Well, whether he can be trusted or not, if he needs my help, I'll give it," Al finally managed to say in a choked voice. "Helping a Malfoy paid off for my father."

Simon glanced at him, and then raised their hands and pressed a soft kiss to Albus' knuckles.

"I'm sorry I said that," he said softly. "I know you will. It's one of the things I love about you, Al."

Albus took a deep breath, one that was full of relief but was also tinged with disappointment. A part of him still wondered if Simon had really meant what he'd said, or if it had just been one of those stupid things that people sometimes said when they were upset about something. Although for the life of him, Al couldn't see what Simon had to be upset about.

Still, it was even more of a relief to walk into the Three Broomsticks and see Teddy, his Mum and Dad, and Uncle Ron, waiting for them.

* * *

The first few moments at the Three Broomsticks were slightly nerve-wracking because Scorpius went very pale and almost looked like he might faint. But then Peony whispered something in his ear and some colour came back into Scorpius' face and Al breathed a sigh of relief. He was a little surprised at the obvious affection in his mother's eyes when she embraced Scorpius, but he knew how warm-hearted she was, and after the conversation he'd just had with Simon, it was reassuring to see that she had no problems with liking a Malfoy.

"What did you say to him?" he asked Peony, as soon as he could get near her.

Peony looked as if she didn't want to tell him for a moment, and then she shrugged.

"I told him that his parents wouldn't have wanted him to ignore his birthday," she said, but Albus had a feeling that there was something more that she wasn't telling him.

The evening went well after that. Scorpius was still fairly quiet, but Uncle Ron was in fine form and kept everybody laughing, and Albus noticed that even Scorpius laughed a few times. His Uncle seemed pleased whenever this happened and Albus reflected that somehow Scorpius Malfoy seemed to have managed, at long last, to dissolve his Uncle Ron's legendary resentment against the Malfoy family.

By unspoken agreement nobody made too much fuss about the fact that it was a birthday celebration, although there was a delicious cake that Albus knew his mother had made. They lingered for a while over coffee and the cake, and Albus could see that Scorpius was relaxed, and he hoped that perhaps the worst was over for the other boy. He knew that it still wasn't going to be easy for him, but at least now he must know that he didn't have to face it alone.

Finally it was time to leave, and it was with some regret that they left the cosiness of the Three Broomsticks and began the walk back to Hogwarts, for the nights were beginning to become cold. They all huddled together as they walked, laughing at Rose and Peony, who seemed to be becoming firm friends and were walking arm in arm singing the Hogwarts school song rather loudly.

They parted ways at the Grand Staircase, the Gryffindors heading up to their tower, and the three Slytherins wandering down to the dungeons. As soon as they reached the common room Peony said a swift good night and disappeared and Albus found himself alone with Scorpius.

Albus began to walk to the dorm but a soft touch on his arm halted him, and he turned to find Scorpius standing close. Almost immediately Scorpius moved away, but not before Albus had realised just how short Scorpius was. His forehead was only level with Albus' chin and Albus had never noticed this before.

"I just wanted to say thank you," Scorpius said, his eyes meeting Albus' with an earnest expression.

"Oh," said Albus, shifting uncomfortably for he hated to be thanked for anything. "You don't need to. Really."

Scorpius smiled, with a slight tinge of amusement, but Albus had a feeling that he understood Albus' discomfort because he merely nodded and then left the room, sending Albus one last smile over his shoulder.

Albus blinked, and then after a moment followed Scorpius into the dorm.


	5. Chapter 5

Scorpius was woken by the sound of a fiercely whispered argument. He quickly recognised the voice of Albus Potter but it was a few more moments before he realised that the other boy was Adrian Bole. He listened quietly from behind his closed bed curtains, waiting for them to leave, but he arched an eyebrow when he realised the nature of their argument.

"I can't believe you just went off to Hogsmeade like that and left us behind," Adrian hissed, and Scorpius heard Albus sigh.

"I didn't mean to," he whispered. "But it was a sort of family thing."

"Liar," Adrian answered, and Albus hushed him. "Peony Zabini was there and she's not a member of your family."

"Ha," Albus whispered. "That's what this is about, isn't it? Why don't you just admit that you fancy her?"

There was a moment of silence and then Scorpius heard a sigh that had to come from Adrian.

"Fine, I admit it, and a fine friend you are. You're no help at all, Potter."

"Look, I'd help you if I could."

"Well, you're sort of friends with them now, aren't you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, you could get me closer to her, what about if you…"

Scorpius frowned in frustration for the two boys had obviously left the dorm and he'd wanted to know what plan they might come up with. The thought of Peony as the object of someone's crush was vastly entertaining, particularly as she'd used his own crush on Albus Potter to manipulate him the evening before.

The moment when he'd walked into the Three Broomsticks to be confronted with all of those people had almost made him faint but when Peony had whispered in his ear that Albus had done this for him his heart had thumped in his chest and the blood had rushed to his face.

He'd recovered quickly, particularly when he'd noticed Simon Crimshaw watching him, and while it had been difficult at first, by the end of the evening he'd been thankful that they had somehow found out about his birthday (Peony was adamant that she hadn't told them).

There was still a dark ache in his heart but it was tempered now with the warmth of the evening before and of Teddy Lupin's final reassurance to him that whenever he needed him, he'd be there. And Scorpius believed him.

Scorpius quickly pushed aside the bed curtains and hopped out of bed. The dormitory was empty, the other boys were either in the bathroom or down in the common room, and it would be time for breakfast soon.

After showering and dressing with his usual care, Scorpius met Peony in the common room. He could see Albus and Adrian on one of the couches, whispering together. He wondered what idea they had come up with, and he couldn't help smiling at Peony.

"You're looking more cheerful," she said with a smile as they left the Slytherin dungeon. "I'm glad."

Scorpius nodded. "Yes, I'm feeling better," he said, and she took his hand and squeezed it.

It wasn't long after they'd reached the Great Hall that Scorpius found out exactly what plan Albus and Adrian had hatched, for only a short while after he'd taken his usual seat at the Slytherin table, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, do you guys mind if we join you?" Albus said, and before either Scorpius or Peony could answer Scorpius found himself sitting between the two boys. Adrian immediately started talking to a stunned Peony and Scorpius tried not to blush as Albus grinned at him.

"There, I've paid my debt," he said, nodding at Adrian and Peony, and Scorpius couldn't help smiling. "Hopefully he'll leave me alone now."

"If it's any help, Peony once said she thought he was cute," Scorpius said.

"Of course," he added, "I have to admit that it was at Halloween when we were in first year and he was dressed as a Cornish Pixie."

Albus laughed. "Oh yes, I remember that. It took a week for the blue to come off, the idiot used the wrong charm."

"And you were a Ghoul. It was a very effective costume," Scorpius said. "Did you know that Trevor Pucey had nightmares about it every night for a week?"

"No, I didn't," Albus said, looking along the table to where the tall, thin Slytherin sat with his nose buried in a book. "But I could well believe it. He still jumps whenever anyone slams a door. So, what did you go as?"

"What?"

"Halloween. First year. What was your costume?"

"Oh… um… I didn't actually go," Scorpius replied, flushing slightly. First term of his first year had been a nightmare for Scorpius, he'd started a tentative friendship with Peony but they hadn't become very close yet, and Creevey and his friends had already begun harassing him. Scorpius had been too embarrassed and, he had to admit, too scared to go. He'd only seen their costumes in the dormitory.

"Oh, why not?"

"Hey, Al." It was Simon Crimshaw and for the first time ever Scorpius was thankful to hear his voice.

"Oh, hey Simon," Albus said, smiling up at his boyfriend.

Simon grinned. "We have a free before Defence. Want to find somewhere to study?"

"Ah, study," Albus laughed. "Yeah sure," he added, rising from the table and taking Simon's hand.

A moment later they were gone, and Adrian gave a soft snort. "Study, my eye," he said. "I can tell you exactly where they're going." And he winked at Scorpius.

"Oh? Do tell," said Peony eagerly.

"Empty classroom on the third floor," Adrian said. "They've been going there for nearly a year now to, ahem, _study_. Al put some sort of ward on the door and no one else can get in. Filch is furious about it because he can't find anyone to remove it and he's never been able to find out who put it there."

Scorpius listened to this with a sinking heart. It was one thing to know that your crush had a boyfriend and quite another to hear that he was sexually active with that boyfriend.

"Yes, well, Albus should know better then to waste a free study period like that," said Rose Weasley loudly from behind them, and the three of them jumped.

"Merlin, Rose," Adrian said. "When will you stop sneaking up on people and scaring them to death?"

"Oh, maybe when you stop gossiping, Adrian," she smiled at all of them. "Shall we go to the library? I could help you with that Alchemy essay, Scorpius. I've already finished mine."

"We have an Alchemy essay?" Scorpius asked blankly. For the first time in all of his time at Hogwarts Scorpius had no idea what had happened in any of his classes, and while he had an excuse for his lack of attention, it was still rather embarrassing. "Wait, we have Alchemy today, don't we?"

Rose patted his arm. "Yes we do," she said kindly.

"Darn it, I left my book in the dorm," Scorpius said, looking in his bag. "I'll have to get it. I'll meet you in the library, yeah?"

The others nodded and Scorpius quickly left the Hall and hurried down the corridor to the Dungeon's staircase, but his feet slowed as he recognised the group of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws blocking his path. But surely, he thought, they'd leave him alone, and he ducked his head, avoiding their eyes, and tried to slip by them.

But just as he was almost past them, a foot hooked in front of his and he tumbled to the floor, and slid along the corridor.

"Oh, look," said Martin Creevey's voice, and Scorpius' stomach knotted with anxiety. "The Slytherin Fairy Princess has had a fall. How clumsy of it. I guess I'll just have to help it up."

A hand gripped Scorpius' arm and he was hauled to his feet as loud laughter from the group of boys echoed through the corridor.

Once on his feet Scorpius tried to pull his arm free, but Creevey's grip tightened and Scorpius winced.

"So, now you know what it's like," Creevey hissed, looming over Scorpius.

"What?" Scorpius asked, trying to back away.

"You know what it's like to lose people you love. Your family," Creevey said quietly. "And you know what? Your dad deserved it. All of you Malfoys deserve it."

Scorpius stared at Creevey, knowing that the shock must be showing clearly on his face, and Creevey grinned and then let go of his arm. He nodded once and walked away, his friends following him, and Scorpius was left standing in the hallway, his heart hammering.

He could feel a sob rising in his throat. It broke him out of his frozen state, and he turned and ran for the dormitory. When he got there, he flung himself on his bed, drawing the curtains around him.

* * *

"Scorpius, where have you been?"

Rose Weasley's voice echoed in the hallway behind him and Scorpius slowly turned to face her. Rose halted and peered at him and then pulled him away from the other students heading towards the Alchemy classroom.

"Are you all right?" she whispered.

Scorpius nodded. He'd tried to wash the telltale remnants from his face but unfortunately his eyes always stayed puffy and red for a while after he'd cried.

"I'm fine," he said.

Rose looked doubtful. "Are you sure? Did something happen?"

Scorpius swallowed heavily and shook his head. "I'm fine, Rose. Really."

She didn't reply but she still looked doubtful as they filed into the Alchemy classroom and took their seats, and Scorpius was momentarily surprised when she sat beside him. Usually she sat with another girl from Gryffindor, but Rose merely smiled at him, and got out her books and parchment.

The lesson was theory but for the first time since he'd come back to Hogwarts Scorpius managed to concentrate and by the time the class was over the tight knot of sickening tension in his stomach had eased.

"Come on, we're meeting the others for break," Rose said, taking his hand when they left the classroom and Scorpius found himself in the startling position of walking through the hallways hand-in-hand with one of the most popular girls in the school. He noticed the surprised looks that were sent their way and could only acknowledge that he was just as surprised himself.

He almost felt as if he'd entered another world when he got to the Quad and they joined a large mixed group of Slytherin and Gryffindor Quidditch players, and Scorpius could see that Peony looked as bemused as he felt. Adrian Bole was hovering close to her and Scorpius was not surprised to see them fall into a quiet conversation.

Albus, who was leaning against Simon, gave Scorpius a wave and Scorpius returned it weakly. He'd accepted a long time ago that Albus had a boyfriend but it was still wearisome to be confronted with their affection for each other all the time.

"Revolting, aren't they?" said Michael Lukas suddenly from behind them, and Rose laughed while Scorpius tried not to blush.

"Thank Merlin, it's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up," Michael continued, looking at Rose. "I have to pick up a book at Tomes and Scrolls. Want to join me?"

"Oh, yes," Rose said, eagerly. "I need some quills and Gladrags has some new wool."

Peony looked up. "Did you say wool? I have a new pattern for non-shrinking socks. Do you know what colours they have?"

"Nope," said Rose. "But they have some new patterns for self-winding scarves. I wanted to make one for winter this year. Do you want to come with us?"

"Ah, we were already going to Hogsmeade anyway," said Adrian, smiling at Peony.

"Well, why don't we all go together?" asked Peony, and Rose nodded, whilst Adrian and Michael looked at each other and sighed. "Scorp, you'll come too, won't you?"

Scorpius raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't dream of missing the first official outing of the Flowergirls Knitting Club."

There was a moment of somewhat surprised silence and then a ripple of laughter went through the group.

"Oh, that's a name that's going to stick," said Adrian, waggling his eyebrows at Peony.

"Well, I'm not missing it either," said Albus, still laughing. "And Simon, Marcus and Nathan want to come to. Let's make a big group and then have lunch at the Three Broomsticks."

There was a general clamour of agreement and Scorpius met Peony's eyes and saw his own bemusement reflected in them.

"It's a bit surreal, isn't it?" she whispered in his ear. "Being adopted by Potters and Weasleys."

And Scorpius could only nod in agreement.

* * *

"I hate Thursdays," Albus muttered with a sigh as he took a seat beside Scorpius in the Charms classroom.

"Why?" asked Scorpius. He was trying not to look too stunned as Michael and Adrian sat down on his other side, with Peony. The other Slytherins had sat with them again at breakfast and then had followed them to class, where Scorpius had expected them to sit separately as they always had.

Adrian rolled his eyes. "We don't have any classes with Gryffindor," he answered before Albus could say anything.

"Oh," Scorpius said and refrained from mentioning that their timetable had made Thursday his favourite day for the very same reason.

"It's not just that," Albus said lamely, flushing a bit. "I'm not that fond of Herbology, and we have that double after lunch."

"Albus, you cannot expect us to believe that," said Michael with astonishment. "Professor Longbottom is your favourite teacher."

"Well, he's a friend of the family," Albus said.

"Actually he's Scorpius' favourite too," Peony said. "He fancied the pants off him in second year, didn't you Scorp?"

" _Peony_ ," Scorpius hissed, his face flaming.

"Oh, so you are gay then?" Michael asked loudly and suddenly the entire class was staring at them and Scorpius wanted to sink into the floor.

"Oh, Merlin," whispered Peony. "You _idiot_."

"Well, you started it," Michael muttered.

Scorpius took a deep breath. "Yes, I am," he said quietly, and there was a bit of whispering in the room. "I thought everybody knew that."

"Yes, well, obviously Michael's a bit slow," Albus said after clearing his throat, and he looked around the room with a raised eyebrow. "And so I'll apologise on his behalf for his total lack of respect for another student's privacy."

There were a few embarrassed looks throughout the room and suddenly everyone was diligently opening their bags and getting out their parchment and quills.

"Sorry, Scorp," Michael whispered.

"It's all right," said Scorpius. "But I believe we're doing the _Engorgio_ _Skullus_ hex today. I've never done it before. Can I practice on you?"

"Oh, um, of course," Michael mumbled with a horrified expression whilst beside him Adrian laughed into Peony's shoulder.

* * *

"I'm so sorry, Michael," Scorpius said, two hours later as they headed down to the Lake on their free period before lunch. "I was only joking. I _had_ done that hex before and if you hadn't flinched the way you did… well, I'm sure the swelling will go down soon."

"Don't worry about it, Scorpius," said Albus cheerfully, slinging an arm around Scorpius' shoulders and almost making him lose the ability to breathe. "Michael got what he deserved. And Professor Flitwick said he didn't even need to go to the hospital wing."

Michael, who was still finding it difficult to speak with one side of his head twice its usual size, merely patted Scorpius on the shoulder and glared at Albus. Unfortunately, this only had the effect of making Albus laugh hysterically.

"Where's Creevey and that camera of his when we need it?" he said, and Scorpius couldn't stop the gasp that escaped his lips.

Albus looked at him curiously but before he could say anything Peony had grabbed Scorpius' hand and pulled him away.

"So, what do you think of Adrian?" she whispered. "Do you think he likes me?"

Scorpius looked at her in disbelief. "You do realise that he'd asked you on a date when he asked you to go to Hogsmeade with him this weekend, don't you?"

"Oh," Peony said, flushing. " _Oh_."

"Exactly," Scorpius said, with a raised eyebrow. "So, my question is do _you_ like _him_?"

Peony's blush deepened. "Well, yes. He's cute and funny and rather sweet really."

"Well, I suggest you make it clear to him that you're more interested in him than in knitting patterns then," Scorpius said, and Peony giggled.

' _Girls,_ ' he thought with a sigh. "You might want to let Rose know that Michael had actually asked _her_ out as well," he said aloud, and Peony giggled again.

And he was the one with no experience.

* * *

The rest of the week flew by quickly and Saturday found Scorpius walking to Hogsmeade with a large group of Slytherins and Gryffindors. He still had to pinch himself occasionally in order to believe that he was suddenly hanging around with the popular crowd but he'd started to genuinely enjoy their company.

He was becoming particularly close to Rose and Michael and she had thanked him for clueing her in to Michael's interest in her. Peony and Adrian were also quickly growing closer and there were moments when Scorpius couldn't ignore the fact that everyone around him was becoming, or already was part of, a couple.

Still, it was nice to have more friends and being part of a large group of popular students also seemed to diminish the amount of teasing that he usually had to endure, he reflected thoughtfully as he followed Rose and Michael into Tomes and Scrolls.

"Hey, Scorp," Michael said, taking his arm as they walked along an aisle of books. "What was that book you were telling me about yesterday? You know, the one about ingredients for rare potions."

"Oh," said Scorpius, looking around. "I think it's over here. Yes, here it is _'_ _Everyday_ _herbs_ _that_ _might_ _blow_ _up_ _your_ _house,_ _and_ _how_ _to_ _use_ _them_ _'_ _._ Some of it's a bit odd but Professor Snorpatch said it can be a very useful book at times."

Michael nodded absently, already turning the pages, and Scorpius smiled as he glanced over at Rose who was in a similar state with another book. They made a good pair actually, he thought, as long as they remembered to occasionally resurface and actually talk to each other.

Scorpius drifted through the bookshop scanning titles and hoping to find something interesting. Instead he came across a pile of old issues of the _Daily_ _Prophet_ and his heart gave a sickening lurch as his eye landed immediately on a picture of his mother and father. He recognised the moment instantly – it was only two weeks old and they were standing on platform nine and three quarters, waving and smiling at someone off camera, and that person was him.

"Oh," he breathed, sinking to the floor with the issue in his hand. The words 'Malfoy family tragedy' blared across the page but Scorpius didn't read anything more. He simply stared at the picture - his father was momentarily distracted, as if he was aware of the picture being taken - but his mother was entirely focused on whoever she was waving to, on _him_ , and a heavy lump rose in Scorpius' throat.

"Hey, Scorp, do you think… Merlin, what are doing sitting on the floor?"

Scorpius looked up at Albus blankly for a moment and then quickly got to his feet. He turned away, placing the newspaper back on the pile with a tinge of regret, and blinked rapidly trying to clear his eyes of the gathering tears. He was _not_ going to lose his composure in front of Albus Potter.

"Wait," said Albus, softly. "Is that what you were looking at?" He moved closer, as Scorpius nodded.

"It's a good picture, isn't it?"

"Yes, I like it," Scorpius finally managed to say, although his voice was tight in his throat, and suddenly Albus' arms were around his waist and he'd been pulled into a tight hug. Scorpius froze, caught in a storm of emotions, of which the strongest was the sudden urge to bury his head in Albus' shoulder and burst into tears.

Luckily Albus, who was still gazing at the newspaper, didn't seem to notice as Scorpius took a couple of deep breaths and got himself under control. For a moment he didn't know what to do with his hands but finally he rested them gently on Albus' shoulders.

"You know," Albus said, quietly. "My father has a couple of contacts at the _Prophet_. I bet if I asked him he could get you a good copy of that picture."

Scorpius drew back slightly, and glanced at the picture, still unable to meet Albus' eyes. He could feel his face starting to flush because he could not ignore how strong Albus' arms felt holding him, or the muscled hardness of his shoulders under Scorpius' hands.

"Could…" Scorpius cleared his throat. "Could he?"

"Absolutely," Albus said, with a grin. "And I'll get it framed for you. I still owe you a birthday present, you know."

"Oh, you don't have to-" Scorpius began, but Albus interrupted him as his arms tightened around Scorpius' waist.

"I want to," he said.

Scorpius finally met Albus' eyes and smiled but when looking over Albus' shoulder he spotted Simon watching them, he quickly pulled away.

Albus let him go easily and grinned. "All right?"

"Yes," said Scorpius. "Thank you. But the others are probably waiting for us."

They all left the shop and went on to Gladrags where Rose and Peony spent an interminable amount of time choosing wool and looking at patterns until Albus finally took their hands and dragged them out of the shop, after which they dropped in at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and had a chat with George Weasley.

Then it was time for lunch, which was a meal bordering on riotous as far as Scorpius was concerned for Adrian and Michael had made quite a few purchases at the Weasley's shop that almost caused them all to be evicted from the Three Broomsticks.

It was as they were walking back to Hogwarts that Scorpius somehow found himself trailing behind with Simon, and he wasn't actually very surprised, for Simon had given him a few tense looks throughout the afternoon. He had a feeling he knew what the other boy was going to say.

"How are things going, Scorpius?" Simon finally asked him, and Scorpius tensed for he'd much rather Simon get straight to the point.

But still, he decided to be honest. "At times difficult," he said, quietly. "But getting better."

"Good," Simon said, nodding. "That's good, but I'd like to give you a bit of advice that might prevent things getting worse for you again."

"Oh?" Scorpius prompted stiffly, slightly surprised at his own rising anger.

"Yes," Simon continued. "You see, Scorpius, as I'm sure you've realised by now, Al is a very affectionate person."

There was a pause in which Simon seemed to be waiting for something so Scorpius nodded his head.

"I had noticed," he said.

"I'd hate for you to get the wrong idea from that," Simon said, suddenly holding Scorpius' arm and halting them. "I'd also hate for you to try to take advantage of it."

"I wouldn't," Scorpius said quickly, affronted.

Simon grinned at him but there was nothing friendly about it.

"I'm well aware of your crush on him, you know," he said, and Scorpius couldn't help flushing.

"And while I have every reason to trust Albus," he continued, "the problem is, Scorpius, I have absolutely no reason to trust _you_."

"You have no reason not to trust me," Scorpius pointed out. "I've never done anything to you."

"But I do have a reason," Simon said. "A very large one in my opinion. You're a Malfoy."

"And _everyone_ knows a _Malfoy_ can't be trusted," Scorpius said, his voice full of bitter sarcasm.

"Exactly," Simon said seriously, and Scorpius stared at him in speechless disbelief.

"So, I wanted to tell you, Scorpius," he continued, "I don't care how difficult your life is at the moment – if you get in the way of my relationship with Al, I'll make you regret it. So, here's my advice. Don't get too close to him."

Scorpius was still speechless, his heart hammering hard, and even if he'd been able to think of anything to say, Simon allowed him no time, for he simply gave Scorpius a tight smile and then quickly walked away along the road, where the others were now only to be seen as small figures in the distance.

After a moment, Scorpius took a deep breath and followed him.


	6. Chapter 6

The next couple of weeks flew by for Albus Potter. As well as a heap of assignments, Quidditch practice had now started in earnest as the team began to prepare for the first match against Gryffindor in November. He hadn't said anything to Simon but Albus was determined to win - it would be his last opportunity to win a game against his brother at Hogwarts, and this was the year he was finally going to do it.

But even though he was so busy, Albus was enjoying it. The dynamic of his group of friends had changed with the inclusion of Scorpius and Peony, for one thing Rose was spending more time with them, which Albus liked, even if it was because she had started a relationship with one of his friends. When Albus had told Adrian and Michael to get girlfriends he hadn't expected one of those girlfriends to be his cousin, but he was learning to live with it.

At first he was sort of surprised at how quickly Rose and Michael, and even Adrian, had become close to Scorpius Malfoy but after spending some time with him, Albus had found himself liking Scorpius a lot, and he was glad they were now friends. Scorpius had been rather shy and quiet with them at first, sort of tentative, almost as if he couldn't quite believe he was talking to them, but eventually he had loosened up and had revealed a biting sense of humour. He also seemed kind and thoughtful. Albus had noticed how much Scorpius had been helping Adrian with improving his rather abysmal marks in Ancient Runes, and once when Michael had forgotten to bring his Quidditch gear to practice after a date with Rose, and Albus had been about to bite his head off, Scorpius had suddenly turned up with Michael's bag in his hand.

So, all in all, it had all turned out rather well, Albus thought, and the only disappointing thing about it was that Simon didn't seem to be able to be comfortable with Scorpius. He didn't say anything but Albus could sense his tension whenever Scorpius was near them, not that Scorpius was much - he tended to stay with the others.

Halloween was drawing near and this was another source of excitement for this year, now that they were sixth years, as well as the usual costumed feast they would be able to attend the senior student's dance that was held afterwards. There was a lot of veiled talk about costumes going on, nobody wanted to reveal their choices beforehand but everybody still wanted to gossip about it.

Albus wasn't worried about costumes for he and Simon had already decided to go as vampires. It wasn't particularly original, he knew, but they'd both wanted something simple that wouldn't be too uncomfortable for the dance and, he smiled to himself as he thought about it, it was very appropriate because they both had a thing for necks… and biting.

"What's with the wicked smile, Al? What are you thinking about?" Simon whispered in his ear as they finished dinner, and Albus shivered.

"Just thinking about our costumes for Halloween," Albus answered, his smile widening.

"Oh?" Simon asked.

"Hmmm," Albus replied, and he leaned into Simon's side and ran a hand over his thigh under the table. "Want to go somewhere and practice our biting technique? We want to be perfect if we're going to be successful vampires."

Simon laughed softly. "Meet you upstairs?"

* * *

Albus trailed his fingers over the mark he'd raised on Simon's throat and wrapped his legs around Simon's hips, moving against his thrusts forcefully.

"Come on, Si, let go," he whispered, and slid his hand down Simon's back and over the flexing muscles of his rear. He pushed one finger against Simon's entrance and Simon moaned.

"The minute you do, you know where I'll be going," he continued as he pressed the finger inside.

And he knew Simon would be ready for him for they had done it like this quite a few times. As much as Albus enjoyed the sensation of being filled he rarely found his release from it and he loved having Simon when he was mellowed out from his own orgasm and Albus could pretty much do anything he wanted with him. And Simon was greedy for pleasure, Albus thought fondly, so if he got to come twice he'd let Albus have his way.

"Merlin, Al, you're so fucking hot," Simon whispered breathlessly and then bent his head, sucking his own mark onto Al's throat.

Albus arched up against Simon, deliberately tightening around him, and that was all it took, Simon shuddered against him, groaned, and his hips stilled. Albus waited a few moments as Simon's breathing grew less laboured and then he pressed a kiss to his lips.

"Ready?" he whispered, and Simon nodded, pulling away slowly.

Albus got down from the desk he'd been lying on and dragged Simon over to the blanket on the floor, and pushed him down onto it, tucking a pillow under his hips.

Simon moaned appreciatively, slightly muffled by the blanket, and Albus grinned for he knew that this was one of Simon's favourite positions. He quickly stretched Simon with a couple of lubed fingers, but he didn't need much before he was telling Albus to hurry up, and so Albus draped himself over Simon's back and pushed inside.

"Yesss," Simon hissed. "Fuck, I love how big you are, Al."

Albus smiled, speeding up his thrusts, pushing harder and deeper. "Yeah, and I love how tight you are."

Simon laughed, the movement rippling through his body and creating exquisite sensations for Albus.

"Do that again and this will be over too soon," Albus said, pressing a kiss to Simon's shoulder, and then they fell into a beautiful rhythm, punctuated with soft moans and harsh gasps.

Albus was sucking on Simon's earlobe when he whispered, "I need to come, Al," and Albus clasped Simon's hip, pulled him up onto his knees and started stroking his erection.

A moment later Simon tightened around Albus' own erection as he erupted into Albus' hand and Albus' plunged deep with one last blissful thrust and came.

They collapsed onto the blanket together, both struggling for breath.

After a few peaceful moments, Simon sighed and sat up. "It's getting late," he said, pulling Albus into a quick kiss. "As much as I'd like to stay here with you, I've got an early Quidditch practice tomorrow."

"Oh?" said Albus, smiling slowly. "James is that worried, is he?"

Simon laughed and tapped Albus on the nose. "Don't even try to draw me out, Albus Potter. We are not talking about Quidditch."

They both stood and slowly started to get dressed and it was when Simon was putting on his shoes that he looked up at Albus with a smile.

"So, I was talking to Adrian and Michael," he said. "And we had this idea of making it a date day for Hogsmeade this weekend."

Albus frowned, puzzled. "What does that mean?"

"Like a sort of group date thing," Simon replied, shrugging. "You know, Rose and Michael, Adrian and Peony, you and I. We go for the day to Hogsmeade together."

Albus turned away, looking for his other shoe, but also fighting a rising sense of irritation.

"And what about Scorpius?" he asked quietly.

"Scorpius isn't part of a couple, Albus," Simon answered. "I'm sure he'll understand."

Albus frowned. He didn't like the idea of deliberately excluding Scorpius like this but he couldn't think of any argument to make against it, particularly as Adrian and Michael had already agreed to it. He felt a bit disappointed with them; he'd really thought that they had become firm friends with Scorpius.

Eventually he simply shrugged an agreement, and Simon pressed a kiss to his mouth and quickly left, waving as he disappeared through the door.

* * *

"Rose and I had no idea, Scorpius, really," Peony said, and Albus could see how earnest she looked.

He couldn't see Scorpius' face but he did see him shake his head. "Honestly, Peony, don't worry about it," he said, quietly. "It really doesn't matter. I've got some stuff to catch up on anyway."

They were all in the library together and Albus had noticed that Peony had looked upset, and he'd watched as she'd tapped Scorpius on the arm and then led him into the shelves. Albus had got up as well and, on the pretext of needing a book, had followed them and settled in to do something he very rarely did. Eavesdrop.

"I don't know whose idea this was," Peony said. "Adrian says that if we were going to do a date thing he'd have rather we'd just done it alone, and don't look at me like that. I didn't mean that the way it sounded."

She was blushing, but also trying not to laugh, and Albus wished that he could see the expression on Scorpius' face that had caused the reaction. Still, what she had said was interesting because it told Albus that this 'date thing' hadn't been a mutual idea between Adrian and Simon, and he suspected it hadn't been mutual for Michael either.

The irritation that he'd felt with Simon a couple of days ago rose again. Why couldn't Simon just make the effort to get to know Scorpius? If he did, surely he would see how wrong he'd been with his strange prejudice against him.

"Look, I understand Peony, really I do," Scorpius assured her.

"Maybe you can find someone by Saturday," Peony said, and Albus could see she was grinning.

Scorpius laughed but it sounded slightly bitter, and the grin slipped off Peony's face.

"I know you must be lonely, Scorp," she said quietly. "Don't you want to find someone?"

There was a moment of silence and then Albus saw Scorpius shrug. "You know how I feel," he said so quietly that Albus almost missed it.

Peony frowned. "You have to let it go sometime, Scorpius. It's not going to happen."

"I know that," Scorpius replied, sounding annoyed and Peony reached out and took his hand. When Scorpius spoke again his voice was normal, "but even if it was that easy, there's no one who's interested in me. Not in a Malfoy."

Albus frowned at the resignation in Scorpius' voice, as he watched the other two slowly walk away. Peony was whispering in Scorpius' ear, but he simply shook his head and then pulled her back to the table where the others were all studying.

Briefly he wondered who it was that Scorpius was interested in, for that had certainly sounded like they were talking about an unrequited crush, one that Scorpius had obviously given up on; but aside from that Albus couldn't believe that Scorpius thought no one would be interested in him, regardless of whether he was a Malfoy or not.

For, Albus had to acknowledge as he moved closer to their table and let his eyes drift over the other boy, Scorpius _was_ attractive. He was certainly cute with the shorter hair, and his eyes were expressive and really quite beautiful, and his graceful slenderness gave him a certain sort of elegance that was actually very appealing.

And Albus was certain that he couldn't be the only person who had noticed it. Of course, there weren't that many gay guys at Hogwarts and some of them had already gotten together like he and Simon. But there was a Hufflepuff 7th year that Albus knew was single, a couple of 5th year Ravenclaws and another 7th year in Gryffindor. Any of the others were in the lower years and were really too young to be considered.

So, that didn't really leave many to choose from, Albus reflected, and it also probably meant that whoever it was that Scorpius fancied was probably already taken and that was why he had given up on it. And bloody hell, he really hoped it wasn't Simon, because that would be just way too awkward, what with Simon's dislike of Scorpius.

Albus shook his head in wry amusement and decided that he was being ridiculous, for Scorpius had certainly shown no interest in Simon's company. If anything he actively avoided him as if he sensed that Simon wasn't happy about his presence, Albus noted, with another brief flicker of irritation.

Still, the object of Scorpius' crush aside, who out of the single guys at Hogwarts would be good as a boyfriend for Scorpius, Albus wondered, frowning thoughtfully. That Hufflepuff 7th year, Shane something, he was sort of good-looking but James had once said that he had to be one of the most boring people on earth. The Ravenclaws would probably be more interesting but one of them had a squint and big ears, and the other tended to wear very strange clothing when he wasn't in uniform, all clashing colours like lime green, orange and _pink_ , and Scorpius tended to be rather stylish with his clothing.

That left the 7th year Gyffindor, Fabian Smith, and Albus momentarily wondered if he should ask James about him, before quickly dismissing it as a bad idea. Fabian had a bit of a reputation for being pretty wild, and there seemed to be a certain sort of innocence about Scorpius that probably shouldn't be messed with when he was still in a fairly vulnerable state. Merlin, Teddy would kill Albus if he got Scorpius involved with someone like Fabian.

So, that left… no one, and Albus sighed, but the next moment he almost levitated to the library ceiling as a heavy hand landed on his shoulder.

"Distracted again, Albus," Michael said, his voice full of amusement and Albus turned to him with a glare. "You won't finish that Defence essay staring into space, you know."

Albus huffed and rolled his eyes but followed Michael back to their table.

* * *

The next morning his father's owl delivered a package to Albus that he immediately guessed contained the framed picture that he had promised he would get for Scorpius.

Albus glanced around the table and pushed the package into his bag, deciding that it would be really much better to give it to Scorpius when they were alone. The day went by quickly and it wasn't until late evening that Albus got the chance, when he entered the Slytherin dorm to find it empty except for Scorpius, who was rummaging in his trunk.

"Oh, hey Scorp," Albus said, smiling as Scorpius looked up. "I've got something for you."

He took the parcel out of his bag and held it out. Scorpius rose to his feet, brushing off his knees, and took the parcel gingerly. Then he must have realised what it was for a smile crossed his face and his eyes shone. A moment later he had unwrapped the parcel and was holding the picture in his hand, gazing down at it.

Albus moved closer, looking over Scorpius' shoulder at the picture, resting his hand on Scorpius' waist. "Yeah, that looks much better than it did in the _Prophet_ ," he said.

Scorpius nodded and stepped away, placing the picture on the small night table beside his bed, and Albus followed him, sliding his arms around Scorpius' waist in what he hoped was a comforting hug.

Scorpius seemed tense though, and he pulled away. With a sigh, Albus let him go.

"Are you all right?" he asked, softly.

Scorpius nodded as he turned to face Albus, his usually pale face flushing. "Yes, it's just… I really do thank you, Al," he said and held out his hand.

Albus grinned at the formal gesture, but it was at that moment that he noticed that Scorpius wasn't really meeting his eyes, and the flush on his face was turning into a full-on blush. His breath caught in his throat as he recognised that look, but he stifled his surprise and quickly shook Scorpius' hand.

"It was a pleasure," he said, his eyes searching Scorpius' face.

Scorpius finally looked at Albus, his blush deepening as he smiled, and then he was moving, quickly disappearing into the bathroom, and Albus took a deep breath.

And really he wondered how he could have been so dense as to miss the fact that the person for whom Scorpius had an unrequited crush was obviously… Albus himself.


	7. Chapter 7

Scorpius smiled and waved at Peony as she left the common room to meet the others and go to Hogsmeade. He knew she felt guilty but in all honesty Scorpius didn't really mind. There was a certain tension about being in a small group with Albus and Simon that he'd decided it was better to avoid, and he really did have some work to catch up on.

Besides, he was still a little wobbly over the 'picture incident', as he liked to call it in his head. Simon had been right, Albus was very affectionate with his friends, and whilst Scorpius had got used to the pats on the shoulder and the arm squeezes, the hug that Albus had given him along with the picture, had taken him unawares. He'd pulled away quickly but he could only hope that Albus hadn't noticed his confusion.

Still, he couldn't help remembering how nice it had felt and Scorpius sighed softly. But, he told himself firmly a moment later, this wasn't getting his transfiguration essay done, and he quickly picked it up and read it over. It was almost there, but it needed something more, and Scorpius gathered up his things and resigned himself to an afternoon spent in the library.

The hallways were quiet as he walked through them. The 1st years and 2nd years were mostly outside, enjoying what would probably be the last fine weekend afternoon of the autumn, and the students who hadn't gone to Hogsmeade in favour of study were probably already in the library or other study areas.

"Well, well, well," said a voice behind him and Scorpius' heart sank as he realised it was Martin Creevey. "I haven't seen you for a while, Fairy Princess. Have you missed me?"

Scorpius slowly turned to face the lone boy standing in the corridor, and shook his head.

"I can't say I have," he said quietly, and wondered if it would provoke Creevey if he started to back away, but then it was too late as Creevey strode forward and gripped Scorpius' arm.

"Well, maybe I'll have to remind you of what a good friend I can be," Creevey said.

Scorpius sighed and resisted the temptation to roll his eyes.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?" he asked, mildly.

Still, it was the wrong thing to say, for something furious flared in Creevey's eyes and Scorpius' suddenly found himself pushed forwards against the wall with his arm twisted painfully behind his back.

"Smart mouth," Creevey snarled. "Why can't you just disappear?"

Apart from the rare shove into a wall, Martin Creevey had never been physically violent but something in Creevey's voice told Scorpius that this was about to change, and sudden fear ripped through him like a knife. He began to struggle against Creevey's hold in panic but the only effect that it had was to make Creevey wrench his arm up higher, and Scorpius cried out in pain.

"So where are all your new friends, huh?" Creevey said, malice dripping from every word. "Did they leave you behind? They're sick of you already."

A fist landed on his side, and Scorpius' knees buckled. Suddenly Creevey let go of him and Scorpius crumpled to the floor, gasping for breath, desperately hoping that Creevey would leave.

But he didn't.

* * *

Scorpius walked stiffly into the Slytherin 6th year bathroom, peeling off his jumper and shirt as soon as the door was closed and locked. Never had he been so thankful for privacy as he dropped the clothing onto the floor and looked in the mirror. Slowly he turned around, gingerly looking over his shoulder, and winced at the sight of the bruises that were already beginning to mar his back.

He'd managed to curl his body as Creevey had kicked him, so he'd avoided any bruising to his chest, but his back was probably going to take a while to heal. He eyed the bath and then opened a cabinet, searching for the special muscle relaxing oil that he knew the Quidditch players used.

A few minutes later Scorpius sank into the water and sighed, trying to keep his mind away from what had just happened. But that was impossible, and Scorpius found himself reliving every detail, as well as the moment when Creevey had told him that if he told anyone he would kill him.

A part of him couldn't believe that Creevey was serious, but another part of him, hidden deep inside his heart, a part that was bruised and bleeding and quivering with fear, couldn't let go of the feeling that Creevey had meant it. After all, Scorpius thought bitterly, Creevey had gone this far. Why not further?

Slowly he shook his head. It wasn't any use to think like that, he had to decide how to handle this. He could go to the Headmistress or Teddy, but aside from the bruising on his back, there was no proof. There had been no witnesses and it would only be his word against Creevey's, and he knew that the majority would believe Creevey over a Malfoy.

Rose was a prefect, and Scorpius had an idea that she would believe him. She had never seemed too fond of Creevey for a start, and she'd even asked Scorpius once if Creevey was bullying him. Scorpius had told her that Creevey only teased him – he'd never expected that it would go this far, and he was still bewildered by the fact that it had.

The problem was that even if he told Rose and she backed him up, she still hadn't actually seen anything happen, and most people would still take Creevey's side. It wouldn't really be fair to put her in that position.

A wave of sharp longing swept over Scorpius, the longing for home and his parents. He'd felt lonely before but he'd never felt so alone as he did right now. For a few moments he let the feeling hold him in a grip that made his throat tight and his eyes sting, but before the tears could fall, Scorpius forced the sense of aching loss away. It wasn't going to help him to wallow in self-pity and he still had to make up his mind about what had happened.

In the end, Scorpius decided, it would perhaps be wiser to stay silent. It probably wouldn't happen again, particularly if he was cautious, and more careful about being caught alone with Creevey. The sooner he could forget about it the better, but, Scorpius thought with grim, angry determination, if Creevey did catch him again, no ban on magic usage in the hallways was going to stop him from hexing Creevey into oblivion.

* * *

A couple of hours later Scorpius was seated in the common room, trying to finish his transfiguration parchment, when Peony and Adrian came through the door, holding hands and laughing.

"You look like you had a good time," Scorpius said, smiling as they sat down near him. "Where are the others?"

"Don't know," Adrian said, with a leering grin. "We all had lunch together and then we all sort of went our separate ways, if you know what I mean."

Peony blushed and thumped Adrian on the arm. "Merlin, you can be such an arse sometimes, Adrian," she said, and then giggled helplessly as he began to tickle her.

Scorpius sighed softly as he watched them. Love certainly seemed to be in the air at Hogwarts, for everyone but him, and the worst of it was that the more time he spent with Albus as a friend, the more he realised that, physical attraction aside, it would be so easy to fall in love with him. He was fun to be with, affectionate and loyal to his friends, as well as generous.

He was also gorgeous, but Scorpius wasn't going to think about that too much. It was too dangerous, and as much as Scorpius had come to personally dislike Simon Crimshaw, he _was_ Albus' boyfriend. And even without Simon's warning, Scorpius had no intention of interfering with that.

He felt a tap on his arm and looked up to find Adrian grinning at him. "Wake up, Scorp," he said. "You haven't been dozing about the common room all day, have you?"

Scorpius shook his head. "I went to the library for a while."

"Bloody hell, how boring," Adrian said. "Look, it's still nice out and there's some Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws up at the Quidditch pitch having a bit of a game. Why don't we go up and watch?"

"Oh, you just want to play," Peony said, and Adrian looked slightly guilty. "Fine," she said, relenting. "Scorp will keep me company, won't you, Scorp?"

Scorpius nodded, for in truth he'd had enough of trying to study and he needed a distraction, but then his eyes widened in panic as he realised that he couldn't move. The other two stood and looked at him expectantly and Scorpius thought rapidly.

"Ah, you couldn't help me up, could you?" he asked Adrian. "I had a bit of an accident and I've hurt my back. It's all right," he continued quickly as Peony frowned, "it's just stiffened up a bit, that's all."

Adrian nodded, took Scorpius' hand and dragged him to his feet, whilst Scorpius tried not to groan aloud with pain.

"What happened?" Peony asked with a worried tone.

"It's really embarrassing," Scorpius said, as he followed them from the common room. "I fell off a step-ladder in the library."

Adrian started to laugh but Peony glanced at Scorpius with a strange look, and he wondered if she'd guessed that he was lying to her. He'd never been particularly good at it, after all. His mother had caught him every single time.

But Peony didn't say anything and they all walked to the Quidditch pitch, a bit slower than usual because of Scorpius.

When they reached it, they found Rose and Michael already there, sitting at the bottom of the Slytherin tower with a group of Hufflepuff 6th years.

"You're too late," Michael said. "Albus and Simon have already turned up and they've made up the numbers. But they said we could sub in at some point."

"Bugger," said Adrian. "Shove up, you lot, and let Scorp sit down. He's gone and hurt his back while in the _library_ of all places."

There was some shuffling around and Scorpius took a seat on the bench next to Rose, whilst Adrian and Peony flopped at their feet.

"Is it really painful, Scorp?" Rose asked, sympathetically.

"A bit," he replied. "It's just stiffened up, that's all. Makes it a bit difficult to get around but I'm sure it will wear off soon."

"You know," Michael said, leaning across Rose. "Madam Pomfrey made a special bath oil for the Quidditch players. It's really good. I'll find it for you when we get back to the dorm if you like."

"Um… thanks, yeah, that would be good," Scorpius said, flushing slightly, thinking of the now half-empty bottle in the bathroom cupboard.

After that they all became engrossed in the game and Scorpius found that, whilst the pain in his back remained, being surrounded by the warmth of his friends eased the ache in his heart.

* * *

The next morning at breakfast Creevey watched Scorpius with a smug expression, and Scorpius made every effort to avoid returning his gaze. But he couldn't avoid the anger that simmered inside him, particularly when he saw Simon and Albus sitting at the Gryffindor table with Creevey and he remembered that they were actually friends.

"Really, Scorpius, what is wrong with you this morning?" Peony asked with irritation, after Scorpius had slammed his glass onto the table and splashed pumpkin juice everywhere. She picked up a napkin and wiped the mess off her hand. "You've never been so messy in your life."

"Sorry, Peony," Scorpius said. "I'm just… restless I suppose. I should have gone to Hogsmeade yesterday, I think. I feel like I need to get out of Hogwarts for a while."

"Well," she said, excitedly. "That's the thing. Professor Sprout told the prefects this morning that senior students could go to Hogsmeade today if they wanted to. It'll be great, no juniors hanging around, getting in the way, so Rose and I wondered if you'd like go with us to Gladrags to look at-"

"No, not knitting patterns," Scorpius moaned. "Honestly, I'd rather stick those darn needles you use in my eyes, than look at more knitting patterns."

"Shut up," Peony said, laughing. "No, we thought we'd try to get ideas for Halloween costumes. I mean, do you have any idea what you're going to go as?"

"No, actually," Scorpius said, thoughtfully. "All right, let's go."

An hour later they were wandering into Hogsmeade, rather slowly for Scorpius was still fairly sore. They had been in Gladrags for about half an hour looking through the racks of clothing, when Rose came up to Scorpius holding a silvery top in some sort of satiny material and a pair of black pants.

"Scorpius," she said, her eyes shining. "These would look wonderful on you."

Scorpius frowned. "As a Halloween costume?"

"Yes," she replied. "Peony," she continued as the other girl joined them, "do you remember those magazines your Mum sent you with all the pictures of those Muggles dressed as goths or whatever they called it?"

"Oh, yes," Peony said, eyeing Scorpius. "Yes, I think you're right, Rose. That look would be perfect for Scorp."

"I don't know about dressing for Halloween as a Muggle," Scorpius said. "It's a bit lame, isn't it?"

"No, not as a Muggle, nitwit," Rose said. "As one of those goth people. Oh, who cares anyway, as long as you look amazing. And you will, we'll really spike up your hair, and in these clothes-"

"And I just found these," Peony interrupted, holding up a pair of tall black lace-up boots and what looked like a black leather collar.

"Perfect," Rose squealed, and Scorpius looked at them doubtfully.

Still, the shirt was rather nice, and he actually really liked the boots, so he supposed he could humour them.

"All right," he eventually said, and they both giggled with excitement and dragged him to the change rooms.

* * *

They were laden with bags when they walked into the Three Broomsticks and immediately saw Albus and Simon sitting at a table with Martin Creevey and a couple of his Ravenclaw friends. Scorpius recognised the boy and the girl instantly - they were on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team and they had often joined in with Creevey's teasing.

Albus waved them over and for a moment they all hesitated near the bar.

"Maybe we should just leave," Peony murmured.

"It's too late," Rose said, as Albus waved at them again. "It would look really rude if we walked out now, or if we sat somewhere else."

"Darn it," Peony whispered, and then they both looked at Scorpius. Scorpius frowned and shrugged.

"Let's go and sit down," he finally said, with a slight sigh. "Before Al waves his arm off."

They walked over to the table, choosing chairs as far away as possible from Creevey, and somehow Scorpius ended up beside Albus.

"Been shopping, girls?" Creevey called out, as they sat down and the two Ravenclaws laughed.

"Yes," Rose said, shortly. "And you?"

"Butterbeer and Quidditch talk," Creevey said, with a grin.

"I imagine these three came here for Butterbeer and knitting talk," said Simon, and laughter erupted at the other end of the table.

"Well, either way," said Albus, and Scorpius saw him shoot a strange look at Simon. "Let's actually get some Butterbeer." He waved a hand in the direction of the bar, and a few moments later the bartender came over with a tray of tankards.

Scorpius sat silently, concentrating on his Butterbeer, and trying to think of a way to leave as quickly as he could. He really wasn't paying any attention to what was being said at the table, he only knew that it was loud and there was a lot of laughing from Creevey and his friends.

Eventually he felt a tap on his wrist and looked up. Albus was looking at him with concerned eyes and the sight made Scorpius' heart leap.

"You're very quiet," Albus said, softly. "And you're very pale. Back hurting?"

Scorpius nodded, clutching at the excuse, although in all honesty he'd been so frozen in the last couple of minutes he hadn't even thought about his back.

"Yes," he said. "I think I might actually go back to Hogwarts."

Albus looked like he was going to say something but before he could, Peony spoke up from the other side of Scorpius.

"We'll come too," she said. "Help you with all the bags."

Scorpius smiled. "Well, most of them _are_ yours."

They gathered the bags and rose from the table, said a quick farewell and were almost out the door when Scorpius heard his name called.

"Wait a minute," Albus said, following them into the street. "None of you were happy about Creevey being there. Why?"

"Merlin, Al, you can be so dense sometimes," Rose said, rolling her eyes. "Creevey's a pig."

"Why?" Albus asked her. "What's he ever done to you?"

"Well," she glanced at Scorpius, "I suppose he's never really done anything to me."

Albus raised an eyebrow and then looked at Scorpius. "So, it's you then," he said. "Has Creevey done something to you?"

For a brief moment, Scorpius was sorely tempted. The three of them were looking at him, the girls with anxiety and Albus with concern, and he wondered if Albus would actually believe that one of Simon's friends had assaulted Scorpius if he told him. And Scorpius found that he didn't want to take the risk of Albus not believing him and losing his friendship.

"He's just… unpleasant to me," he finally said. "You know he started the Slytherin Fairy Princess thing," he added, flushing.

"Yeah," Albus said, frowning. "If he's still doing that I'll tell him to knock it off."

"I don't think it would help," Scorpius said, because he had a feeling that Albus having a go at Creevey would only make matters worse. "I just usually avoid him. That's probably the best way of, um, dealing with him."

Albus watched him for a moment with an indecipherable look in his eyes and Scorpius found himself almost holding his breath.

Finally Albus nodded slowly. "All right," he said. "I'll see you lot back at Hogwarts yeah?" Before they could answer he had already gone back into the Three Broomsticks.

Rose sighed and looked at Scorpius. "You know, James is Head Boy," she said, tentatively. "If I told him that Creevey teases you a lot, I'm sure he'd talk to him."

"No," Scorpius said, irritation rising. "Thank you, but it would probably only make it worse, Rose. And really, I just want to stop talking about bloody Creevey."

He started walking back to Hogwarts and they followed him silently.

* * *

Over the next couple of weeks Scorpius was quite successful at avoiding Creevey and his friends, and his back slowly healed. The only significant problem that he had was managing to use the dorm bathroom when it was empty in order to avoid anyone else seeing the condition of his back, for the extent of the bruising could not really be explained by a simple fall.

Albus and the girls had not brought up Creevey again, and Scorpius was thankful, as he wasn't comfortable with the lies he had told. It felt too much like he was protecting Creevey and that was hard to stomach.

Thankfully nearly everyone was distracted with Halloween preparations. Scorpius still wasn't sure about his Muggle inspired costume, but Rose and Peony had decided to keep with the theme and were going as fictional Muggle witches. Rose had picked a character called Morticia Addams from an old Muggle television show and Peony had decided on the Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz, although she had decided to forego the warts and the hooked nose.

Albus, Adrian and Michael were busy with Quidditch practice for the first game against Gryffindor would be on the weekend after Halloween and Albus was pushing the team hard. Thankfully they didn't seem to mind. Albus also seemed to be spending more time than usual with Simon, so Scorpius often only saw him during classes and study sessions. He didn't know whether to be sorry or thankful, for on the one hand he'd come to enjoy Albus' company and friendship, but on the other hand, his growing feelings for Albus were easier to bear when he and Simon weren't around.

And Scorpius had to admit that his feelings were developing into something more than just a crush and he didn't know how he could stop it. It was embarrassing and humiliating to say the least, to feel like this about someone who didn't return his interest, and he tried to keep it hidden as much as possible but there were many times when he caught himself watching Albus. He was sure that Simon had noticed on occasion but he never approached Scorpius again, in fact he acted as if Scorpius didn't exist, which was something Scorpius could easily live with.

Finally Halloween arrived and Rose and Peony spent the day in a state of absolute excitement. Fortunately it had fallen on a Friday and as all 6th years had a double free period after lunch on Fridays they had plenty of time to prepare their costumes for the feast. Rose had smuggled them into the Girl's Prefect's bathroom, ignoring Scorpius' protests that he wasn't actually a girl, but as he looked around at the comfortable surrounds he had to admit that he wouldn't mind if she smuggled them in there more often.

"Oh bugger it," Peony exclaimed suddenly, rummaging in her bag. "I've left my shoes in the common room." She gave Scorpius a pleading look, and he rolled his eyes.

"Where are they?" he asked.

"Near the couch by the fireplace," she said, kissing him on the cheek. "Thanks, Scorp, I'd go but I really don't want anyone to see me in this dress yet and it's a nightmare to get in and out of."

Scorpius laughed. "Yeah, you can't fool me, Peony," he said, heading for the door. "By 'anyone' we all know you mean Adrian."

Scorpius had found the shoes and was on his way back to the Prefect's bathroom when he heard multiple footsteps behind him. Instinctively he walked faster, but before he got much further a hand on his back shoved him into the wall. He tensed, silently cursing himself for getting caught alone, and turned to face Martin Creevey and a few of his friends.

They were all grinning, and Creevey's smile widened when he saw the high-heeled shoes in Scorpius' hand.

"Nice shoes, Slytherin Fairy Princess," he said, whilst his friends laughed. "Can't wait to see the rest of your costume."

He reached out and shoved Scorpius into the wall again and then they were gone. Scorpius heaved a sigh of relief, in a way he'd been lucky that it hadn't turned out worse but still the simmering anger he felt whenever he saw or thought about Creevey, suddenly boiled over.

"Fuck it," he muttered, and then he was running along the hallway. He burst into the Prefect's bathroom, the door slammed behind him, and both girls looked up with widened eyes.

"I need your help," he said. "We need to make some adjustments to my costume."

"Oh?" said Rose. "Why?"

"Because," Scorpius said, "if they want a Slytherin Fairy Princess they can bloody well have one."


	8. Chapter 8

Albus took a sip of the punch and frowned at Simon.

"Do you think someone's put Firewhiskey in this?" he asked.

Simon took a sip. "Yep."

They looked at each other, grinned, and then refilled their glasses.

"Vampires, huh?" said Michael, walking up to them with Adrian in tow. "How original."

Albus glanced over Michael's costume.

"And who are you supposed to be?" he asked.

"Rose says I'm someone called Gomez Addams."

"Oh," said Albus. "Well, I like the moustache. Sort of suits you." Then he looked at Adrian with a raised eyebrow.

Adrian looked somewhat sheepish. "Apparently I'm a winged monkey?"

"Right, well, it suits you too," Albus said and, beside him, Simon laughed. "But you're not going to be blue for a week again, are you?"

"Oh, ha, ha," said Adrian, thumping Albus on the shoulder. "Sodding vampires."

"So, where are the Flowergirls, anyway?" Albus asked, looking around.

"I have a feeling they want to make a bit of an entrance," Michael said. "Is that punch?"

Simon nodded. "Have some," he said, with a wink. "It's very good."

It was as they were filling their punch glasses that the room quietened and Albus looked up curiously to see Adrian looking towards the doorway with wide eyes.

"Holy fuck," he whispered. "Now that's what I call an entrance."

Albus turned around slowly and his breath caught in his throat.

In the doorway stood Scorpius Malfoy. Flanking him on either side were Rose and Peony, both in figure-hugging black dresses, with long black hair, Rose deathly pale, and Peony a muted, glowing green. They looked amazing but Albus knew that nearly every eye in the room had settled on Scorpius.

He was wearing a short, silver top that skimmed his hips and black pants that looked painted on, with black combat style boots that were laced up to his knees. His hair was a tousled mess and his eyes were rimmed with dark, smudged eyeliner that made them seem larger. It looked like he was dusted with glitter for the skin on his face and his arms seemed to shimmer, and around each wrist was a black leather cuff. A matching collar circled his pale, slender throat, with some sort of green jewel dangling from it.

But arching behind him soared two large black wings, graceful and elegant, beautifully highlighted with green and silver. And on his head was a crown of vicious-looking black metal spikes.

He looked like a beautiful, debauched angel and Albus' mouth went dry.

Then the three of them were walking into the room, confident and almost defiant, until they were suddenly surrounded by a group of Slytherin 6th year girls.

"Merlin," said a voice nearby, breaking Albus out of his trance-like state. "If that's what a Slytherin Fairy Princess looks like, I want one."

He turned to see Fabian Smith standing near them with a group of Gryffindors.

"I mean," he continued, looking at Albus and Simon, with a grin, "That was one of the hottest things I've ever seen, and did you see that arse? That arse is epic."

"I think I'd give up my girlfriend for that arse," said another Gryffindor, and Albus felt an almost overwhelming urge to punch them both in the face.

"Hey, shut it," Adrian said, even as Albus was opening his mouth. "Don't talk about him like that."

"Settle down, Bole," Fabian replied, still smiling. "It was a compliment. One that I think I'll whisper into his perfect little ear as soon as possible." He winked at them and then wandered off, taking a seat at the Gryffindor table.

At that moment the staff filed in and took their places at the high table. Simon, who had been standing silently beside Albus, took his hand.

"I'll see you after the feast," he said, giving Albus a quick kiss and then he went to the Gryffindor table and took a seat beside Fabian Smith, beginning a conversation with him immediately.

Albus frowned at them for a moment, and then followed Michael and Adrian to the Slytherin table and sat next to Scorpius, and a moment later the feast began.

Albus was fairly silent throughout the meal, unsettled by a feeling of anxiety. Over at the Gryffindor table he could see that Simon was still talking to Fabian and he had a feeling that he wouldn't like the topic of their conversation if he could have heard it.

When he'd first become aware of Scorpius' crush on him, Albus had immediately guessed that Simon knew about it and he'd realised that it was probably the source of Simon's dislike of Scorpius. He'd understood that Simon felt threatened, and without talking about the cause, he'd tried to reassure him. He'd spent more time with Simon and, whilst he hadn't exactly avoided Scorpius, he hadn't sought out his company either. He'd figured it would be easier for Scorpius that way too, and certainly Scorpius hadn't seemed like he was trying to get Albus' attention.

Albus had been self-aware enough to admit that he found Scorpius attractive. It wasn't the first time he'd noticed someone else whilst he'd been with Simon and it didn't really worry him. He wasn't made of stone, and it was natural. But as he spent time away from his friends, he realised how much he'd come to count Scorpius as one of those friends; he enjoyed Scorpius' company and he'd found himself missing it.

And he'd caught himself watching Scorpius' sometimes too, and remembering what it had been like to hold him in his arms that time at the bookshop, and wanting to do it again. Albus had quickly squashed that thought - he valued his relationship with Simon in many ways, and not least was the fact that they loved each other. He wasn't going to lose that for a fleeting interest in someone else, or risk losing his friendship with Scorpius either. All they needed was a bit of time, a bit of distance, and everything would hopefully settle down.

And now, in one brief moment, everything seemed like it had gone wrong. He found himself bewildered by the sudden appearance of the stunning boy sitting beside him, bewildered by the surge of sudden physical _want_ he'd felt when he'd seen Scorpius standing in the doorway, and it was clear he hadn't been the only one who'd felt it. At the Gryffindor table Fabian was watching Scorpius and it was fairly obvious to Albus that as soon as the feast was over he was going to make a move, probably aided by Simon.

"Are you all right, Al?" Scorpius' soft voice broke into Albus' thoughts, and he jolted in his seat, startled. "You're very quiet."

"I'm fine, Scorp," Al said.

"So, um, what do you think of my costume?" Scorpius asked, meeting Albus' eyes with a shy look. "It's not too much, is it?"

Scorpius sounded doubtful and Albus had to be honest. "You look amazing," he said simply, watching the flush rise in Scorpius' cheeks. "But what prompted it?"

Scorpius was silent for a moment and Albus wondered if he would answer the question. He had an idea he already knew the answer for he hadn't forgotten what Scorpius had told him about Creevey outside the Three Broomsticks and he'd been debating whether to say something to Creevey ever since. In the end, he'd decided to honour Scorpius' request that he leave it alone but he'd avoided spending any time with Creevey.

"I decided," Scorpius finally said, "that if I was going to be called the Slytherin Fairy Princess I may as well own it."

"Well, you've certainly done that," Albus said, grinning. "I don't think anyone's going to see that title as a put-down after seeing you like this."

Scorpius ducked his head, but Albus saw the small smile on his lips, and when he looked up again his eyes were almost luminous.

"Thank you," he said, simply. "And you make a great vampire."

"Thanks," said Albus. He glanced over at the Gryffindor table, saw Fabian and Simon watching them, and he couldn't stop himself from adding, "Be careful tonight, yeah?" Scorpius frowned, and Albus quickly continued, "Someone spiked the punch."

Scorpius nodded, and then Peony started talking to him and he turned away.

When the feast was over and the lower forms had left, the long tables magically disappeared, the candles dimmed, and music started playing out of the walls. As Albus had expected, Simon came over, with Fabian following, and joined their group. Fairly quickly, Rose, Michael, Adrian and Peony were out on the dance floor, and it wasn't long before Simon had dragged Albus out there as well, leaving Scorpius alone with Fabian.

Albus watched the two talking for a moment and then looked at Simon.

"I wish you hadn't encouraged him," he said, and Simon raised an eyebrow.

"Why shouldn't I have?" he asked. "Did it never occur to you, Albus, that Scorpius might be lonely? And, you have to admit, things would be much easier in our group if Scorpius had a boyfriend."

"Fabian isn't the type to want a boyfriend," Albus said.

"Well, maybe he's changed," said Simon. "People do, you know, they grow up. And anyway, whatever happens, it's up to Scorpius. He's old enough to make up his own mind."

Albus nodded, for he had to admit Simon was right about that, but the problem was he knew that Simon's motivation wasn't about helping Scorpius. It was about insecurity and jealousy, pure and simple, and it left a sour taste in Albus' mouth.

A slow song started and Albus wrapped his arms around Simon's waist as they danced together. Behind Simon he saw Fabian and Scorpius move onto the dance floor and his stomach twisted into a knot when he saw Fabian's satisfied smile as he took Scorpius in his arms.

Fabian's head was bent towards Scorpius' ear, his lips moving and Albus wondered what he was whispering. He wished he could see Scorpius' face.

"There, see," Simon suddenly said, sounding pleased and breaking into Albus' thoughts. "Anyone can see they're getting along. With any luck they'll be together by the end of the night."

Albus nodded, for he couldn't bring himself to reply, and his eyes drifted over Scorpius one last time, (and, Merlin help him, he couldn't help noting that Fabian had been right about Scorpius' arse) before he tore them away and focused on his boyfriend.

* * *

A few hours later Albus walked into the Slytherin dorm to find Scorpius struggling with his wings.

"Here, I'll help you," he said, laughing, and gripped both the wings, holding them still.

"Shhh," Scorpius whispered, looking over his shoulder. "Michael and Trevor are already asleep."

Albus glanced at the curtained beds and nodded.

"Hey, these are really light," he said, quietly, running his fingers over the gauzy material.

"Rose used a weightless charm," Scorpius whispered. "They just clip off my shirt… can you-"

"Got it," Albus said, pulling off the wings and then laying them on the end of Scorpius' bed.

Scorpius sighed with relief and then turned around. Albus could see the glittery powder still on his face; even his lips were dusted with it.

"So, um, did you have a good time?" Albus asked, after a slightly awkward silence.

Scorpius nodded. "Yeah, and you?"

"Yeah," said Albus, and shuffled his feet. He wasn't going to ask.

"So… you seemed to spend a lot of time with Fabian…"

Fine. He'd asked. And it was a fair enough observation for, aside from a few dances with Rose and Peony, whenever Albus had seen him Scorpius had been glued to Fabian's side. Or Fabian had been glued to his.

"Oh, um, yes," Scorpius replied, his cheeks flushing. "He… um… seemed very nice."

Yeah, real nice, Albus thought, right up until he gets what he wants and then he'll be gone. He wondered if he should say something to Scorpius but couldn't for the life of him think of a way to word it that wouldn't be completely embarrassing and humiliating for either of them. Besides, maybe Simon was right, and Fabian had decided to change his reputation.

Scorpius sat down on his bed and unzipped a boot, tugging it off. Albus watched him for a moment and then sat down on his own bed.

"Are you going to go out with him?" he asked quietly.

Scorpius didn't look up, but Albus could see the flush deepen on his face.

"He asked me to," he said in such a soft voice that Albus leaned forward to hear him. "I said no."

A strange surge of something that Albus couldn't really identify but chose to believe was relief for Scorpius' sake, shot through Albus and he almost grinned. He held it back though and glanced at Scorpius, who luckily seemed oblivious to Albus' reaction.

"Why?" he asked, before he could stop himself, because that was probably pushing things too far. "I mean you said you thought he was nice," he added quickly when Scorpius looked up with a startled expression.

"I know," said Scorpius, looking down at his boot again. "But I just wasn't interested in him like that. I told him it wouldn't be fair to lead him on."

And oh, the beautiful irony of that, Albus thought, and he hoped that Fabian had felt it. "So, how'd he take that?"

"He said he wouldn't give up that easily," Scorpius said, sounding slightly bewildered.

* * *

And Fabian didn't give up, for over the next couple of weeks Albus saw him quite often talking to Scorpius. Albus wondered, briefly, if he should get James to tell Fabian to back off, but Scorpius didn't seem to be actually minding the attention. He quite often laughed at what Albus guessed were the outrageous things that Fabian was saying. Still, they never went on a date to Hogsmeade together or anything like that so after a while Albus stopped worrying about it.

For one thing, he was way too busy with Quidditch practice for their game against Gryffindor was coming up, and when the day finally arrived Albus could think of nothing else.

"Right, I'm not going to give a big speech or anything," he said, in the last minutes with his team in the changing rooms. "Just, you two," he continued, nodding at his Beaters, "keep on them, and Melanie, don't let anything get through those hoops. You all know what to do, but as well as that, enjoy it. We're going to win."

They strode out onto the pitch and Albus shook hands with James. They were both silent and Albus could see that James looked as determined as Albus felt.

The day was misty and Albus circled above the pitch, straining to see. Dimly he could make out James at the Gryffindor goal posts. He'd trained his Chasers hard to get the Quaffle past James and all he could do now was hope that they could do it. He would just have to trust his team and get on with looking for the Snitch.

A drizzling rain started and Albus shivered, but continued circling the pitch and avoiding the Gryffindor Seeker. At one point, Simon flew by him, chasing a Bludger and he gave Albus a tight grin.

"Great weather for it," he said, and then performed a tricky manoeuvre that resulted in a Bludger whistling by the ear of one of Albus' Chasers. She only narrowly avoided ending up in the hospital wing, and Albus didn't know whether to admire his boyfriend or curse him.

Time went on and Albus watched the score climb in Gryffindor's favour. His Chasers were working hard but, Melanie, the Slytherin Keeper was new to the team and she was starting to struggle. Albus would have to catch the Snitch soon if they were going to win.

And almost as soon as he'd thought it, there it was, hovering a couple of feet to his left. Albus almost couldn't believe it, but he leaned over and made the easiest catch he'd ever made in his life. It almost felt like an anti-climax as he used the Sonorus spell and announced that he'd caught the Snitch.

But even without the excitement of a chase the Slytherin Tower erupted with cheering when they realised they had won the game.

The cheering started to filter through to the other towers as Albus flew down to the pitch, holding up the Snitch for everyone to see. He shook hands with the Gryffindor team, including Martin Creevey, and then James was in front of him, shaking his head.

"That was bloody ridiculous," he said, with a grin.

"Still won," said Albus, thumping his brother on the arm, and then they hugged.

"I'm still going to win the Cup," James whispered in his ear.

Albus laughed. "We'll just see about that," he said.

* * *

Albus and his team entered the Slytherin Common room and were almost deafened by the ear-splitting cheering. It was the first time that Slytherin had beaten Gryffindor since James Potter had become the Gryffindor Captain and everyone was ecstatic that their 'Slytherin Potter' had beaten the 'Gryffindor Potter'.

The entire team found themselves caught up in a seemingly endless stream of hugs and thumps on the back, until they finally reached the middle of the room. Albus saw Adrian hugging Scorpius and then Peony was there, and suddenly Scorpius was right in front of Albus, and Albus gave in to temptation. He caught Scorpius in a tight embrace, lifting him off his feet, and when he heard Scorpius' light laugh close to his ear, a shiver went down his spine. A sudden urge to kiss Scorpius and feel him respond, and it was an added excitement that Albus knew that Scorpius _would_ , almost overwhelmed him… but it also sobered him.

Whatever his physical interest in Scorpius, and Albus acknowledged that he was now strongly attracted to him, and however close he felt to Scorpius as a friend, it was not worth losing what he had with Simon. He and Simon had been together for almost two years and it had been over ten months now since they had begun a physical relationship, the first for both of them. Albus couldn't guess what the future would hold for them but he knew that he didn't want to give up on whatever that might be.

Carefully he set Scorpius back on his feet and moved on to give Peony a quick hug. Then someone started some music, the Butterbeer appeared, and the party really began.

* * *

Monday morning at breakfast, Albus saw both his father's and his mother's owls swoop into the Great Hall. Hector, his father's owl came to him, but Albus watched in surprise as his mother's owl settled gracefully in front of Scorpius and politely offered him her letter.

Albus watched as Scorpius removed the letter from Dora's leg and then jumped as Hector pecked him on the wrist.

"Hey," he said reproachfully, whilst Hector just looked at him. "Revolting bird."

Hector tried to peck him again and Albus ruffled his feathers fondly and then tried to take his letter.

Scorpius had already finished reading his letter by the time Albus had finally finished wrestling with Hector, who was obviously in a violently playful mood. Eventually Albus resorted to threatening to tell his father about Hector's behaviour and, after giving him one more peck on the hand, Hector let him unfasten the letter, and then took wing with a great flourish that scattered cereal all over the table.

Simon, who was sitting with them that morning, gave a long-suffering sigh and wiped the mess off his own mail.

"I don't know how your father puts up with that bird," he said, and Albus could only nod in agreement as he examined his damaged hand.

When he looked up, Scorpius was folding the letter, and Albus, burning with curiosity gave him an expectant look.

Scorpius smiled. "Your mother's invited me to your house for Christmas," he said, quietly.

"That's great," Albus said with a warm smile even as he sensed Simon tense up on his other side. It was hard for Albus not to tense up himself, for it had become a bit of a tradition for Simon to join them after Christmas for the New Year party that the Potters always held, and he knew that his mother had already invited him. Albus couldn't help wondering how things would go with the two of them in such close quarters, but the fact that Rose and Hugo and their parents, and Teddy, would be there as well would probably be a big help.

Not least because it meant that, with Hugo there, he wouldn't be sharing his bedroom alone with Scorpius.


	9. Chapter 9

Scorpius tucked Ginny's letter into his bag as the bell rang, and slowly followed the others out of the Great Hall. Rose joined them, slinging an arm through Peony's, and they all drifted towards the Potion's dungeon.

A slight tug on his arm alerted Scorpius to the fact that Simon was walking beside him and he looked up in surprise. Simon had barely acknowledged his existence since the warning he had given Scorpius, but now he was looking at Scorpius with a friendly smile, and Scorpius found himself feeling rather unnerved by it.

Simon held him back so that they fell behind the others and then he leaned slightly closer to Scorpius.

"So, are you going to accept Ginny's invitation?" he asked, quietly, and Scorpius sighed. So, that's what this was about.

"I gather you'd prefer it if I didn't," he said, dryly.

"Infinitely," Simon replied, with a wide smile.

Resentment flared in Scorpius. Yes, he fancied Albus, and Simon knew that, but he hadn't _done_ anything about it, and Simon knew that as well.

"You know what, Crimshaw," he finally said, in a tight voice. "I'm not going to live my life doing what _you_ _'_ _d_ prefer."

The smile faded from Simon's face and he tilted his head. "You might want to reconsider that, Malfoy," he said coldly.

By this time they had reached the classroom and Simon stalked through the door and took his seat beside Albus. Scorpius followed him, noting Creevey's usual angry look, and sat down with Rose.

And that was another problem, he thought as he pulled his textbook, parchment and quills out of his bag. Ever since the Halloween dance, Creevey had been watching him with increasing anger. It was obvious that he was furious about Scorpius' defiance at the dance, and whilst it was true that no one had called him the Slytherin Fairy Princess since that night, Scorpius sometimes wondered if it was worth it. For he knew that Creevey was only biding his time, waiting for Scorpius to drop his guard so that he could attack him again, and the tension of it all was making Scorpius a borderline nervous wreck. It was becoming difficult not to flinch every time he saw Creevey.

He glanced over at Albus and Simon and saw Simon's set face and sighed in annoyance. Why the hell couldn't these people just leave him alone?

Scorpius silently fumed through the Potion's lesson and by the end of it, Rose was giving him strange looks, and Scorpius knew that as soon as the lesson was over she'd probably try to talk to him. And he just wasn't in the mood for it.

So, as soon as the bell rang, Scorpius stuffed his belongings into his bag in a haphazard fashion that he'd probably regret later and left the room quickly. He was going to find a quiet corner to spend the free period in, and attempt to get into a better mood, because he really didn't want Simon to think that he was getting to him.

"Hi, beautiful," said a voice close to his ear, and Scorpius almost jumped out of his skin. He turned to find Fabian Smith walking beside him.

"Whoa," Fabian said. "You look decidedly grumpy this morning. What's up?"

Scorpius shook his head. "Nothing," he said, and then frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm on my way to Charms," Fabian said. "I thought I'd take a quick shortcut."

"A shortcut to the dungeons?" Scorpius asked. He looked at Fabian with an arched eyebrow. "Charm's is on the third floor."

"So, I'll be a little late," Fabian said, grinning. "Besides, it's Monday, and you know what that means."

"Oh," said Scorpius, infuriated to feel the blush rising on his cheeks.

"Yep," said Fabian, moving closer. "Monday's the day I ask you if you've changed your mind about going out with me."

"Um… sorry," Scorpius said, in a rather tight voice. "But I haven't."

Fabian gave a long, melodramatic sigh that almost made Scorpius laugh. "Ah, well," he said. "I thought if I took you by surprise you might." He looked at his watch. "Oops, my class started a couple of minutes ago. Must dash. But keep this in mind until I ask you again." And suddenly he leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to Scorpius' cheek. Scorpius had no time to react before Fabian was running along the hallway, laughing.

"Well, Scorpius Malfoy," said Peony, walking up beside him whilst Scorpius was still frozen in shock. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

Scorpius cleared his throat. "Nope."

"I don't understand you," Peony continued. "A dream-worthy 7th year keeps asking you out and you keep saying no. Are you insane?"

"Maybe," Scorpius said, shortly. He really wasn't in the mood to be lectured.

Peony frowned at him. "And what was with the sulking in class?" she asked, and Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"I wasn't sulking," he said, and ignored Peony's incredulous look. "I was just… thinking."

"About what?"

Scorpius began walking along the hallway and Peony followed him. "Well," he said quietly. "Albus' mother asked me to spend Christmas with them."

"Well, that's great isn't it? Wait, you're going to go aren't you?"

"I don't know," Scorpius said, with a sigh. "It could be, um, difficult."

Peony hummed in thoughtful agreement. "Yes, well," she said, after a moment. "You know I'd love it if you could come to mine. We're going to Switzerland this year, and it would be so much fun. But, you know what Mother's like."

Scorpius nodded, and they both rolled their eyes and laughed.

"But you can't stay here at Hogwarts," Peony said, low into Scorpius' ear. "Rose heard Creevey talking yesterday, and he's staying at Hogwarts for Christmas. You can't be here with him, Scorpius. It would be miserable for you."

"Bugger," Scorpius said, for he had been considering it. He sighed again; this must be what it felt like to be between a rock and a hard place, he thought with frustration. And then some of the defiance he'd felt at Halloween came back, and Scorpius thought to hell with it.

It was going to be a hard Christmas for him anyway, he knew that, and he wanted to spend it with people he liked. Simon Crimshaw could go hang.

* * *

That weekend they all went to Hogsmeade. This time James, Lily and Hugo joined them, which Scorpius would have been quite happy about except that James had brought Fabian along as well. He wasn't so sure how he felt about that, because he wasn't quite sure what to think of Fabian Smith.

On the one hand it was kind of flattering to have someone like Fabian interested in him for the Gryffindor 7th year was handsome and popular; and it was also a distraction from Scorpius' anxiety about Martin Creevey and Simon Crimshaw. But at the same time, Fabian sometimes made him uncomfortable. There was often a look in his eyes that Scorpius didn't really understand but it made him very nervous.

And he couldn't help wishing that it was Albus pursuing him the way Fabian was instead, which was a pointless and stupid thing to wish for, he thought to himself angrily, as he watched Albus and Simon walking along, hand-in-hand.

He followed Rose and Michael into Tomes and Scrolls and wandered through the aisles to the Alchemy section. He was finding Alchemy surprisingly difficult and their Professor had recommended a particular book as extra reading, and as the library copies already had a waiting list a foot long, Scorpius had decided to see if he could buy it instead.

He was trailing a finger along the row of books, reading the titles, when strong arms suddenly wrapped around his waist and a hard body pressed close behind him.

"Let's snog," said Fabian, his lips moving against Scorpius' ear.

Scorpius jumped slightly and then shivered because Fabian's lips moved from his ear to rest lightly on his throat. Scorpius tried to tilt his head away, but Fabian followed him.

"Just because we're in Hogsmeade together doesn't mean we are on a date," he finally managed to say. "And let me go."

Fabian ignored him, his arms tightening around Scorpius, but he did move his mouth away from Scorpius' throat and Scorpius sighed with relief. The sensation had caused a strange tingling sensation in his stomach and he wasn't sure that he liked it.

"Well, I've been thinking," Fabian said, sounding amused. "How do you know that you really don't want to go out with me if you don't let me snog you? I'm very good at it, you know."

"Are you saying that if you kiss me I'll suddenly want to go out with you?" Scorpius asked. "That's absurd."

He couldn't help laughing and Fabian chuckled in his ear.

"No, I'm just saying it'll be quicker," he said. "You'll go out with me eventually."

He suddenly pressed a hot, open-mouthed kiss to Scorpius' throat and this time Scorpius' shiver was more of a tremble.

"Don't," he said, rather breathlessly, trying to pull away. "Let me go. I mean it."

Immediately the arms around him were gone, but a hand on his shoulder pulled him around, and he looked up at Fabian with an angry flush on his face.

"Hey," Fabian said gently. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

"Yeah, well you did," Scorpius said.

"I'm sorry," Fabian repeated. "I thought that… I didn't realise-"

"Didn't realise what?" Scorpius said, sarcastically. "That I've never had a boyfriend? That I've never _snogged_ anyone? Well, I haven't and now you can sod off. Game over."

"Hey, hey," Fabian said, holding his hands up. "All right, so I didn't realise that, but I mean, come on, look at you, you're bloody gorgeous, and I'm certain that I'm not the first person to think so."

To his annoyance a blush deepened on Scorpius' face. "Yes, well, I'm also a Malfoy."

Fabian frowned. "I don't think that's really a good reason," he said, studying Scorpius closely. "I think you could probably have anyone you wanted to if you put your mind to it. And why do I have a feeling that there is someone you want, someone you can't have."

"And why do you think it's any of your business," Scorpius retorted, and Fabian laughed.

"All right," he said. "I'll back off. Friends? I'll make it up to you." He grinned widely and Scorpius took a cautious step backwards. "Not like that."

He held out a hand and after a moment Scorpius shook it.

"Come on," Fabian said. "Let's go to the Three Broomsticks. I'll buy you a Butterbeer."

Scorpius nodded and followed him out of the bookshop. Once outside, Fabian nudged Scorpius' arm with his elbow.

"Mondays, though," he said, with a grin that Scorpius could only describe as cheeky. "I'm still going to ask."

He gave an exaggerated wink and Scorpius found himself laughing.

* * *

The following weekend was the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Quidditch match, and Scorpius found himself seated between Albus and Michael in the Slytherin Tower, watching the game. The day was freezing, with an icy wind that seemed to bite right through his clothing and after an hour, when there was still no sign of the game ending, Scorpius was shivering and miserable.

"I think I might go back," he finally said through chattering teeth, because he wasn't _that_ fond of Quidditch.

Both Albus and Michael looked at him as if he'd spoken a foreign language.

"What?" Michael said. "But the Snitch could turn up at any moment."

"But I'm freezing," Scorpius moaned.

"Why are you so cold?" Albus asked, and Scorpius gave him a filthy look.

"Because it's _freezing_!" he said, rather snidely he had to admit. "I'm smaller than you, remember? I don't have as much on me to protect me from the cold."

"Are you calling me fat?" Albus said, grinning. "I'll have you know this is all muscle. But, you're right though, it is a bit nippy."

"A bit?" Scorpius huffed, burying his gloved hands deeper into his coat pockets.

"Rose knows a good warming charm," Michael offered.

"Idiot," Albus said, reaching behind Scorpius to tap Michael on the back of the head. "Rose is in the Gryffindor Tower. Not much use to us over there, is she?"

Michael looked sheepish, and Albus frowned down at Scorpius, who was trying to curl himself up in an effort to get warmer.

"Hey, you're really shaking," Albus said. "Michael, squash up."

And suddenly Scorpius found himself jammed up between Albus and Michael. Albus' arm slipped around his waist and Scorpius suddenly felt rather breathless. But he _was_ warmer.

"Better?" Albus asked, and Scorpius thought his voice sounded strange. He looked up and met Albus' eyes and nodded. Albus held his gaze for a moment, an odd expression on his face, and then a loud cheer went up and they both looked towards the pitch.

Ravenclaw had just caught the snitch.

"Excellent," Albus said happily. "We're still ahead on points for the Cup. Now, let's get back to Hogwarts before Scorpius turns into an icicle."

There were many jugs of hot chocolate waiting for them when they got back to the Great Hall, and large groups of students gathered gratefully around the fireplaces with steaming mugs in their hands.

Scorpius sank onto a bench, closing his eyes in bliss, as he took a sip of the hot, sweet drink. He could feel the warmth of it spreading all the way to his toes, and he wondered if a warming potion had been added to it.

"Hogwarts hot chocolate is good," said Simon, and Scorpius opened his eyes to see that he had joined them, and was sitting near Albus. "But it's not as good as your Mum's," he added, nudging Albus' with his elbow.

"Yeah, Mum's is the best," Albus agreed, and then he smiled at Scorpius. "You'll find out for yourself at Christmas. I got a letter from her this morning and she's really happy that you could come."

Scorpius smiled, but his eyes drifted to Simon, who was looking annoyed.

"Oh?" Simon said, sending a fake smile towards Scorpius. "For some reason I thought you might be spending Christmas with Fabian Smith."

Scorpius' mouth dropped open in amazement, as everyone in the group looked at him. "Why would I be doing that?" he finally managed to ask.

"Well, isn't he your boyfriend?" Simon asked.

"What? No."

Simon frowned as if in puzzlement but there was a light in his eyes that Scorpius didn't like. "Well, it sure looked like you were together when I saw you in Tomes last week. He was all over you."

And to his great annoyance Scorpius immediately blushed. "That… he wasn't," he stuttered. "That wasn't… we're not-"

"Just playing around, then?" Simon interrupted, his voice full of disapproval that made Scorpius long to punch him in the face. "I hope Fabian realises that."

The rest of the group had been looking between Scorpius and Simon with varying degrees of confusion, but suddenly Albus cleared his throat and looked at Simon.

"Simon," he said, in a tight voice, "whatever might be going on between Fabian and Scorpius is really none of our business until they decide it is."

"True," Simon said, with a smile. "But Fabian's a fellow Gryffindor. I'm just looking out for him. I'd hate to see him used and hurt."

Everyone looked shocked and Albus opened his mouth as if to speak, but Scorpius was already moving. He stood and placed his hot chocolate on the table near them.

"I wouldn't do that to anyone," he said quietly, looking at Simon. "I'm going to the Common Room."

He walked out of the Great Hall. Hearing footsteps behind him he glanced over his shoulder and saw that Adrian and Peony were following him. Back at the fireplace he could see that Albus was talking to Simon with an angry expression, and Michael and Rose were sitting on the bench looking bewildered.

"What the _hell_ was all that about?" Adrian said, as soon as they were in the corridor.

"How _dare_ he accuse you of-" Peony spluttered at the same time and Scorpius held up a hand.

"Forget it," he said. "He was just being a prat."

"No, he wasn't," Adrian said seriously, and Scorpius' heart dropped. "He was being a complete arsehole."

And Scorpius couldn't help smiling. "Yes," he said. "I don't think he likes me very much."

"Yeah, I'd noticed he doesn't talk to you that often," Adrian said thoughtfully. "But I really can't see what reason he has to behave the way he just did. Have you ever had an argument or anything?"

Scorpius shook his head, because the truth was they hadn't really. Simon had warned him off a couple of times and that was it.

"Let's forget about it," he said, as they entered the Common Room. "Anyone want to have a game of Exploding Snap?"

Thankfully, the distraction worked, and the three of them settled down next to the fire. By the time Albus came in, they were all laughing. He joined them in the game and nothing more was said about the incident.

* * *

The next couple of weeks flew by in a whirlwind of classes and snowstorms, and just as Hogwarts was snowed under Scorpius felt as if he was snowed under a mountain of homework. Everyone else was in the same state though, working hard, tired and getting grumpy.

It was an absolute relief to get almost to the end of all the assignments and realise that the Christmas holidays were only a week away, even if Scorpius wasn't really looking forward to them that much. It would be his first Christmas without his parents, and even though he liked the Potters, it just wasn't the same. And, of course, there was the fact that just after Christmas, Simon Crimshaw would join them until it was time to go back to school. Scorpius was having a hard time imagining how he was going to get through that.

Simon hadn't apologised to Scorpius but he had been nicer to him since the incident in the Great Hall, but Scorpius couldn't help feeling as if at any moment Simon's façade would slip. As for Creevey, the angry looks had continued, and Scorpius had been careful, but it was getting tiring having to be on his guard so much.

And, perhaps that was why, one afternoon at the end of classes, he didn't really notice that a group of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor students that had crowded around him, cutting him off from his own friends, were all students that he should have recognised as Creevey's friends.

It wasn't until they all suddenly disappeared and he found himself alone in an empty corridor that Scorpius grew wary. He slipped his hand into his pocket and drew out his wand, holding it out before him as he slowly walked along the hallway. His heart was thumping in the most sickening and distracting way and when a door slammed in the distance he almost dropped his wand.

He resisted the urge to run, for the light was dim and he didn't want to risk falling. He was almost at the end of the hallway when he heard a slight noise behind him, and he whirled around, holding up his wand, with the Stinging hex his father had taught him years ago about to leave his lips.

But with a Chaser's reflexes Creevey's hand shot out and gripped Scorpius' wrist, twisting it until, with a pained gasp, Scorpius let go of his wand.

"Did you really think I'd let a Malfoy draw a wand on me?" Creevey asked, with a nasty smile.

Then he shoved Scorpius hard against the wall and pushed his other arm against his throat.

"So, have you missed me?" he asked.

"Not really," Scorpius gasped out, and then regretted it as Creevey's arm pressed harder.

"Well, you know," Creevey said, in an oddly polite voice, "I think I've missed you."

"Creevey? Is that you? There you are, James wants to have…" Simon Crimshaw's voice trailed off as he turned the corner into the hallway and stopped dead at the sight of them.

"He wants to have a Quidditch meeting," he finally finished, and Scorpius, for the first time ever at the sight of Simon Crimshaw, breathed a sigh of relief. He finally had a witness, even if it was someone he didn't actually like, but the best thing was, the witness was a Prefect.

"I'll be there in a few minutes," Creevey said, glancing back over his shoulder, and Scorpius managed to turn his head to see Simon looking at them both with a face full of indecision.

Something inside him froze.

"I'll tell him," Simon said, after a moment, in a quiet voice, and then he turned around and walked away and Scorpius was so numb with shock that he didn't even feel the first punch land on his side.

And even when Creevey pushed him to the floor and shoved a hard knee painfully into his back, Scorpius still couldn't get over his amazement.

For some reason, he really hadn't thought that Simon Crimshaw hated him _that_ much.


	10. Chapter 10

Albus walked into the Slytherin 6th year boy's dorm and looked at the closed curtains around Scorpius' bed with some confusion.

He'd sat at the Gryffindor table for dinner that night and so he hadn't actually noticed that Scorpius wasn't on the Slytherin benches until a concerned Peony approached him and asked him to check the dorm room, as she couldn't find Scorpius anywhere.

He leaned out of the doorway and nodded at Peony who was watching him from the common room door. She looked relieved but also surprised, although she simply waved at him and then disappeared back into the common room. Albus guessed that she would interrogate Scorpius at the first opportunity.

As for Albus, he'd take his opportunity immediately.

"Scorpius," he whispered as he approached the curtained bed. "Are you awake?"

Muffled sounds of movement came to his ears but the curtains remained closed.

"Scorp?" he asked, giving up on the whisper.

"What do you want?" Scorpius answered, but his voice sounded strange, tight and high.

Albus frowned as he hovered near the curtain. "You weren't at dinner," he said.

There was a moment of silence, in which Albus' frown deepened, and then finally Scorpius answered.

"I wasn't hungry."

"Are you sick?" Albus asked, his hand reaching out to clasp the curtain. "Look, can I open these sodding curtains? I'm worried about you."

"Um… oh, all right," Scorpius said, his voice obviously reluctant, but Albus ignored it and pulled aside the curtain.

Scorpius was lying in bed, leaning up on one elbow, but the covers were pulled up almost to his chin, giving Albus only a glimpse of his grey pyjama top. He looked pale and tired, and there was a telltale redness around his eyes.

"Hey," Albus said, taking a seat on the bed. His eyes widened as he saw Scorpius' slight flinch. "What's wrong?"

Scorpius watched him for a moment with a strange expression, and Albus almost felt like holding his breath for some reason. He shook off the feeling and waited as patiently as he could. Finally Scorpius looked away and shook his head slightly.

"I'm tired," Scorpius said, in a low voice, but Albus couldn't help feeling that there was more to it than that.

"Is that all?" Albus asked.

There was another long moment of silence and then Scorpius shook his head again.

"Maybe it's because Christmas is coming up," he said, "but at this moment I'd give anything to be with my parents again. I… I need them right now."

Albus was momentarily startled. Scorpius had never before spoken so openly about his parents, and what had happened to them, but looking at his face, Albus almost felt as if something had broken open in it, allowing the pain he was obviously feeling to be clearly seen.

His heart twisted in sympathy and instinctively he reached out, moving closer, wanting to hold Scorpius tight, but he was halted by Scorpius' hand on his chest.

"Don't," Scorpius said. "I can't."

Albus nodded, but he sighed slightly. He wanted to help Scorpius, to comfort him, but at the same time he didn't want him to feel uncomfortable. And the knowledge of the crush that Scorpius harboured and his own growing attraction to Scorpius was in his mind as well. It wouldn't be fair to either of them, and Simon as well, if this one moment of comfort turned into something else.

Albus moved back slightly and Scorpius' hand drifted back to the bed.

"It's the last chance to shop at Hogsmeade this weekend," Scorpius said, his voice still tight. "Why don't you give me some advice about what I should get your parents and Teddy for Christmas?"

Albus took the cue, and they talked for a while, but Albus' heart was heavy until Scorpius' sombre mood seemed to lift.

* * *

The next morning Scorpius was his usual self again, although Albus noticed that he seemed to be moving stiffly.

"Oh, I… um… it was really stupid," Scorpius faltered, flushing, when Albus and Peony asked him about it. "I fell down some stairs on the third floor. I didn't notice they'd moved. I… ah, hurt my back again."

He was quiet at breakfast and when Simon joined them, Albus noticed the quick look of anger that Scorpius sent towards him, and his heart sank. Scorpius had never displayed any hostility to Simon before, and for a moment Albus almost couldn't believe he'd seen it, but he also couldn't help feeling that Simon's previous behaviour towards Scorpius warranted the reaction. The development didn't bode well for the holidays though, even with the fact that Simon's response seemed oddly subdued.

The week went by in a flurry of classes, assignments, and shopping at Hogsmeade and then, suddenly, it was Wednesday morning, the holidays had started, and they were boarding the Hogwarts Express.

Albus couldn't help feeling excited as he sat beside Simon in their compartment, but he frowned when he realised that Scorpius didn't seem to be there. He'd hardly seen Scorpius since that night in the dorm room, for Scorpius had either been studying in the library with Rose and Michael, or shopping in Hogsmeade with Peony, and the few times Albus had seen him without any of the others, he had been with Fabian Smith.

"Is Scorpius actually on this train?" he asked, unable to keep the testiness out of his voice, and when Simon tensed beside him, he deliberately ignored it.

"Yes, he is," Peony said, and Albus didn't like the suggestive smirk on her face. "He's out in the corridor… somewhere."

Albus frowned, but didn't say anything further. As soon as the others were distracted with items from the trolley, Albus slipped out of the compartment and into the corridor, and sure enough, towards the end of the carriage Scorpius was standing near a window, talking to Fabian Smith.

And he was fairly certain that Fabian was holding Scorpius' hand.

For a moment, Albus fought against a sudden surge of pure, irrational anger. He had no right to feel it, he knew, and he also knew that he had no right to walk up to them and rip Scorpius' hand out of Fabian's, but he wanted to do it.

He took a deep breath and slowly moved along the corridor towards them, fixing a pleasant smile on his face. Scorpius was facing him, so he saw the moment when Scorpius realised he was there, saw the light that came into Scorpius' eyes, and a wave of triumph swept over him that he knew was entirely inappropriate.

And it was at that moment that Albus realised he was in a lot of trouble and that the holidays were probably going to be pure hell.

* * *

A few hours later, after a hurried farewell with Simon, Albus found himself bundled into the back of his father's car, between James and Scorpius. Behind them, Rose, Lily and Hugo were travelling in his Uncle Ron's car and Albus, as he tried not to press too closely against Scorpius, momentarily wished that he'd swapped with Rose.

James was busy talking to their parents and Scorpius was staring out of the window, looking thoughtful, whilst Albus fought against the desire to interrogate Scorpius about Fabian.

Eventually he gave in.

"So. Fabian," he said, nudging his elbow against Scorpius' arm and smiling edgily when Scorpius gave him a startled look. "So, um, are you going out with him or what?"

"He's a friend," Scorpius replied after a moment, sounding slightly confused.

"A friend who holds your hand," Albus said before he could stop himself, and he almost groaned aloud at his own stupidity.

Scorpius frowned, and Albus saw his cheeks flush. "Is there something wrong with that?"

Albus shook his head. "No, no, not at all," he said quickly. "I was just… um… wondering."

"Oh," Scorpius said, sounding even more confused, and after a moment he went back to staring out of the window, and Albus sighed, rather fretfully, and resisted the temptation to punch himself in the head.

Thankfully, not long after that they arrived at Lilydale Cottage, and after the flurry of arrival and unpacking the cars they finally made it up to Albus' bedroom. Beds were set up for Scorpius and Hugo and after Scorpius had claimed the one near the window, Albus saw him looking around curiously.

It was a large room but with the extra beds in it, space was tight and Albus could almost see the wheels turning in Scorpius' head.

"Simon always sleeps in James' room when he's here," he found himself saying. "Mum and Dad are cool, but they're not _that_ cool."

Scorpius looked startled and then blushed a deep, fiery red, whilst Hugo looked at Albus as if he'd gone completely insane.

Albus sighed and wondered if perhaps he had.

Dinner was long and loud, for everyone was excited to see each other and everyone had a lot to say. Scorpius sat between Teddy and Rose and seemed to chat with them fairly often but Albus thought that sometimes he looked a little bemused by all the noise.

Eventually Hugo almost fell asleep at the table and they were all sent upstairs, but Albus managed to linger for a while, talking Quidditch with his Dad and James. By the time he got to his room Scorpius and Hugo appeared to be asleep and Albus quickly joined them.

* * *

"Oh bugger."

Albus blinked, yawned, and sat up, glaring at the figure of his cousin standing by the window.

"Thanks for waking me up, idiot," he said.

"Oh, sorry," Hugo said. "But it's snowing again outside, really heavy and there's a lot of wind. I don't want to be trapped inside all day."

"Maybe it'll stop later," Albus said, through another yawn. He looked around the room and saw that Scorpius' bed was empty.

"Where's Scorp?"

"In the bathroom, I think," Hugo replied, and sure enough Albus could hear the sound of running water coming from his ensuite bathroom. "Hey, is it true about him and Fabian Smith?"

Albus frowned and reflected that he was sick of the very thought of Fabian Smith.

"Why? What have you heard?"

"That they're together and that Fabian really likes him. Didn't James tell you about what happened in the common room with Fabian and Martin Creevey? I mean, he told all of us not to talk about it, but I thought he would have told you about it."

"Well, he didn't," Albus almost snapped. "So, now you can. What happened?"

"Oh," said Hugo, frowning. "All right. It was pretty nasty actually. Well, last week Creevey was in the common room mouthing off about how Scorpius was Fabian's latest conquest and that he was also the easiest. He was saying stuff about how quickly Scorpius had bent over for Fabian, and then Fabian walked in and just punched Creevey in the head. Said if he ever heard him talking about Scorpius like that again he'd curse him, and then Creevey pulled his wand, and Fabian used the Sardine hex on him. James had to separate them in the end. He took points off them, but he made us all swear not to tell anyone because he didn't want to send them to the Headmistress."

"Didn't want to lose a member of his Quidditch team, I bet," Albus muttered.

"No," Hugo said, sounding affronted by this slur on Gryffindor's honour. "He said that he didn't want it getting around that there had been that sort of talk about Scorpius, or that they'd been fighting about him. James says Scorpius has enough on his plate."

"Yeah, sorry," Albus said, feeling slightly ashamed. "He's right about that." He frowned as a thought occurred to him. "Was Simon there?"

"No," Hugo said, grinning. "That was the night that Simon was, um, with you."

Albus felt his face heat and he threw his pillow at Hugo's head. Still, he couldn't help feeling relieved, for even though James had sworn the Gryffindors to secrecy he would have expected Simon to tell him, and he would have been disappointed if he'd found out that Simon had known about what had happened.

Creevey certainly was becoming a bit of a problem, Albus thought, and he wondered if Creevey had ever said anything to Simon about Scorpius. He really did not like the idea of Creevey talking like that about Scorpius and he had to acknowledge that it annoyed him even more that Fabian Smith had been the one to defend Scorpius' honour, and Albus made a promise to himself that when they got back to Hogwarts he'd keep more of an eye on Creevey.

Then the bathroom door opened and Scorpius walked out wearing black jeans and a soft grey jumper, with messy hair, and Albus felt his stomach drop. Hugo disappeared into the bathroom and Albus couldn't stop himself from watching Scorpius as he styled his hair. There was something so graceful about Scorpius, Albus decided, that it was almost sensual and for the first time he wondered what it would be like to have Scorpius in his bed and in his arms. His breathing shallowed as his eyes drifted over Scorpius' body, lingering on the perfect swell of his arse.

He forced himself to look away, cursing inwardly over the fact that he couldn't seem to get any sort of control over this growing attraction he had for Scorpius. And it worried him - for what did it mean for his relationship with either Scorpius or Simon?

And James was right; Scorpius did have enough on his plate at the moment, without dealing with someone else's mess. Although he seemed strong, Albus knew that Scorpius still had to be struggling with what had happened to his parents. And then there was the problem of Creevey and, eyes narrowing thoughtfully, Albus wondered just how far Creevey's dislike of Scorpius had gone.

"Hey, Scorp," Albus said, his gaze drifting back to Scorpius. "Has Martin Creevey been hassling you a lot?"

For a moment it was almost as if Scorpius had frozen, and then he slowly turned to look at Albus, and he seemed strangely nervous.

"Actually," he said, in a soft voice, "I wanted to talk to you-"

The door flew open and Rose and Lily bounced into the room. Albus felt an urge to howl in frustration, and he could see the same frustration in Scorpius' eyes, but before either of them had a chance to say anything Lily was talking.

"It's snowing buckets outside, and Mum says we can't go out," she said. "Do any of you want to play Exploding Snap in front of the fire?"

Albus replied, rather grumpily, that he still had to get out of bed, but Scorpius laughed and followed Rose and Lily out of the room.

* * *

It was an extraordinarily boring day, Albus felt, particularly for a first day back at home in the holidays, and he did not get a chance to speak to Scorpius alone again, for Lily and Rose kept him practically hostage at the fire, playing games. Albus joined them for a while, but fairly soon he started to feel restless and eventually he found himself actually helping his mother in the kitchen.

"Are you sure you're feeling all right?" she asked him, smiling, and Albus poked his tongue out at her. "So, how's it going with Simon?"

"He's fine," Albus said.

"That's not what I asked you," she said, with a raised brow.

"We're fine, Mum," Albus said, shortly. "Everything's fine."

"And Scorpius?" she asked, and Albus' head shot up.

"What do you mean?"

She gave him a strange look. "You're friends with him now, aren't you?"

"Oh," Albus said. "Yeah, I am."

"And Simon? He's friends with him too?"

Albus bit his lip. "Well, not really," he finally said.

She hummed thoughtfully and Albus sighed.

"Fine, Mum," he said. "Say whatever it is you want to say."

His mother reached up and ruffled his hair and laughed. "Somehow I have a feeling you already know," she said. "So, I won't spell it out. But remember, Albus, sometimes it might be better to step back from a relationship for a while, just to give yourself some time to figure things out and get back on track. It might be the fairest thing to do."

Albus' face was flaming and he couldn't meet her eyes but he nodded.

"Thanks Mum," he said gratefully, and they continued peeling potatoes in silence.

* * *

The next morning it was still snowing like a blizzard outside and Albus groaned as he looked out of the kitchen window after breakfast.

"Merlin, I'm going to go insane if we're stuck inside for the entire holidays," he said, and beside him Hugo nodded in despondent agreement.

James appeared beside them. "Shh," he whispered. "I've got a plan. Get everyone together and meet me in the Big Barn."

The 'big barn' as they liked to call it was a massive old structure some distance behind the house and it was an icy cold trip to get there. Once they were inside out of the wind it was much warmer and they looked around the barn in surprise.

James had cleared a large section in the middle of the barn and somehow flooded it with water, and as they watched - in envy, for he was the only one of them allowed to do magic outside of school - he cast a Glacius charm that froze the water solid.

Albus glanced at the pile of skates near the door and grinned. "Bloody brilliant, James," he said. "But Mum's going to kill you when she sees what you've done in here."

"Nah," James replied, with a smirk. "Uncle Ron will calm her down, it was his idea. And Dad said he might join us later."

It took some time for them to sort out the skates and James had to charm some to fit Scorpius.

"Are they all right?" he asked, as Scorpius tied the laces. "I don't want you to get blisters. And be careful out there, stay near Al or something. Mum will kill me if you hurt yourself."

Scorpius looked up at James, laughed, and then swiftly stood and skated gracefully out onto the ice.

"Why do I have a feeling that Malfoy Manor has it's own ice-skating rink," James said to Albus with a grin.

"Bet it's a lot fancier than this one," Al said, as he got to his feet and followed Scorpius.

"Oi, don't knock my work, ingrate," James yelled.

Albus waved a nonchalant hand at his brother as he caught up to Scorpius.

"So, how long have you been skating?" he asked.

"Oh, about a minute I think," Scorpius replied.

"Oh, ha, ha," Albus said with a grin. "You're hilarious."

Scorpius laughed. "My dad started teaching me when I was about four," he said. "He always really loved skating and I ended up loving it as well. Once I stopped falling over."

"Well, I don't think Hugo's ever been able to stop that," Albus said, pointing as his cousin face-planted on the ice and slid a few feet. "His balance is terrible."

Scorpius laughed again, that light, silvery laugh that always had some sort of effect on Albus, and he shivered.

"So, do you know any tricks?" he asked quickly.

"A few," Scorpius said. "But my back's still a bit stiff from that fall last week. I don't think I should try any."

"Is it all right?" Albus asked, moving closer in concern, for Scorpius had never said exactly what the injury had been and perhaps he shouldn't really have been skating at all.

"It's fine," Scorpius said. "But I did want to talk to you about…" He broke off, his eyes widening at something over Albus' shoulder, and he reached out to grip Albus' arm, but before Albus could react, something cannoned into his back and he found himself sprawling across the ice, completely entangled with Scorpius.

Finally they slid to a halt.

"Sorry, sorry," Hugo gasped from somewhere behind them, and Albus rolled onto his side and glared at his cousin, who was lying on the ice nearby. In the distance he could hear the others roaring with laughter.

"What the fuck, Hugo," he growled. "You're a complete idiot."

"I'm really sorry," Hugo said, and by this time Lily had skated over and was helping him to his feet. "Are you both all right?"

"Yeah," Al said, waving them away, and then he looked down at Scorpius and froze, for Scorpius was dead white, and was grimacing in obvious pain.

"Scorp?" he whispered.

"I landed on a bruise," Scorpius said, rather breathlessly. "And I really need you to move your arm."

Belatedly, Albus realised that Scorpius was actually lying across his arm, and that their legs were tangled together. It was an intimate position and Scorpius was looking up at him, his lips parted as he gasped for breath and it would be so easy, Albus thought, to just lean down and kiss him. And he really, _really_ wanted to do it.

"Al?" Scorp said, sounding confused, just as Albus started to lean forward, and the spell was broken.

"Sorry," Albus said quickly, pulling back and gently helping Scorpius to sit up. "Better?"

"Yeah," Scorpius said. "Thanks."

Albus nodded and as soon as they were both on their feet again, he left Scorpius with Rose and went and joined James in trying to help Hugo stay on his feet. He was shocked and rather appalled at how close he'd come to doing something so unforgivable both towards Simon and Scorpius. It was all getting out of hand and he was going to have to do something about it.

Albus thought about what his mother had said to him and he knew that he was going to have to talk to Simon about this, and his heart sank. Never had he imagined that something like this would affect his relationship with Simon but it couldn't be denied that things were changing, _he_ was changing, and he needed time to figure it out.

Thankfully, tomorrow was Christmas Eve and his grandparents would arrive, adding to the chaos in the house, and after that the rest of his family would be there for Christmas Day, so there would be plenty of distraction from the temptation that Scorpius was proving to be.

After that he would only have Boxing Day to think about what in all the hells he was going to say to Simon.


	11. Chapter 11

Scorpius woke early on Christmas Eve morning, blinked into the dim light, and sighed with frustration.

He rolled over in the comfortable bed and winced as one of the bruises on his back twinged. It was taking him longer to heal this time even though he'd thought the injuries hadn't been much worse than the last time. He wondered how much worse it could have been if Creevey hadn't been hampered by lack of time.

After Creevey's second attack, and Simon's surprising behaviour, Scorpius had almost felt frozen. He'd gone through the final week at Hogwarts in a state of numb indecision – he knew he couldn't ignore what had happened the way he had before, but he couldn't make up his mind what to do.

He knew that he needed help, someone who would believe him and help him find a way to prove what was happening, and stop it happening again, because it was fairly obvious that Creevey wasn't just going to go away. And with a Gryffindor prefect's tacit approval he'd probably get worse.

So, Scorpius had spent a lot of time thinking about what to do and who to talk to. He could go to the Head of Slytherin house, Professor Snorpatch, or to Headmistress Sprout, but something inside him shied away from the idea of going to them alone. It was after all, his word against Creevey's… and Simon's. And he'd had no doubts that Simon would support Creevey's denial that he was responsible for the attack.

He'd thought of talking to Teddy or Ginny, he'd even thought of talking to James Potter, and once he'd even come close to telling Fabian Smith.

But somehow the only person he could imagine telling was Albus. He hoped that it wasn't just his own feelings for Albus prompting his decision and he'd tried to ignore his growing desire to have Albus hold him and tell him that everything was going to be all right. In the end, he'd comforted himself with the knowledge that his decision was only appropriate; Albus was, after all, a Slytherin prefect. It was part of his duties to help another Slytherin student.

So, he'd decided on Albus but nerves had gotten the better of him a few times until finally the holidays had started. He'd thought that it would be easier at Lilydale cottage, but now nerves weren't so much the problem as finding a private moment to talk to Albus. At first they'd kept getting interrupted, which was annoying enough, but now Scorpius was beginning to think that Albus was actually avoiding him. He could only blame his own increasing frustration for that bit of paranoia.

But he was running out of time. The next two days would be busy and on the day after Boxing Day, Simon would arrive. And that was another problem, for Scorpius had still not decided whether to tell Albus about Simon's involvement. On the one hand he felt as if Albus had a right to know about it, but on the other hand he didn't want to seem as if he was trying to cause trouble between them, and underneath all of that was the fear that he couldn't completely suppress. The fear that Albus wouldn't believe him.

He sighed again, and gave up on going back to sleep. He slipped out of bed and went into the bathroom, took off his pyjama top and stared into the mirror. He hadn't been able to protect his chest as well as he had last time, probably because he'd been in such shock about Simon, and so his torso had a few bruises as well as his back. One of them was definitely the shape of a boot heel, and he traced it with his finger, letting the anger he still felt flow over him for a moment.

Eventually he got into the shower, thankful for the soothing warm water.

* * *

When Scorpius got down to the kitchen, a large evergreen tree dominated one end of it. His family had always had a tradition of decorating the tree on Christmas Eve and it seemed the Weasley's, and therefore the Potter's had the same tradition.

Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were standing by the tree and they turned and smiled as Scorpius moved nearer.

"You're up early," said Harry, and Scorpius nodded, gazing up at the tree.

"Great one, isn't it?" said Ron Weasley. "Let's hope my Mum doesn't set fire to it this year."

Scorpius gaped at him and Ron laughed.

"She always insists on doing the Candles charm," he said. "And last year she'd had a bit too much of Ginny's plum brandy. She conjured up a candle that was bigger than the tree. I say candle, but it was more of a raging bonfire really."

"Almost burnt the house down actually," Harry added, as Scorpius wondered if they were pulling his leg, but then Harry pointed upwards and Scorpius saw the scorch marks on the ceiling.

"I tell Molly that I leave it there to remind my children of the evils of drinking too much, but actually I just enjoy the fact that it embarrasses her."

"Does she still drink plum brandy?" Scorpius asked faintly, not sure if he was more nervous or more excited about seeing the chaos that Molly Weasley might create.

"She won't this year," Harry said, and then he added with a grin, "Ginny made cherry brandy for this year."

"Oh," said Scorpius, and then they all turned as the door flew open and James, Lily, Rose and Albus tumbled into the room. The noise level grew quickly as Ginny and Hugo followed them and then suddenly there was a flash of green from the fireplace and Arthur Weasley steeped into the room soon followed by his wife, and Hermione Weasley.

Scorpius blinked as everyone seemed to start talking at once, and he blinked again when Molly Weasley appeared in front of him.

"Oh, it's the dear, sweet boy," she said, and then she planted a smacking kiss on Scorpius' forehead. "How are you?"

"F… fine," Scorpius stuttered, trying not to look horrified as everyone around him laughed, including Molly Weasley.

Then the door flew open and Teddy Lupin walked into the room, still wearing a pair of green and white striped pyjamas.

"Do you lot have to make so much noise?" he said, glaring around the room. "Some of us are trying to catch up on some sleep."

"Here, Teddy," said Rose, handing him a mug of coffee. "If you hadn't spent so much time snogging Victoire after dinner last night you wouldn't be so tired."

There was an outburst of loud laughter at this, and Scorpius buried his nose in his own coffee.

* * *

The tree was safely decorated and Scorpius lay on the floor in front of the fire with Rose, and a very full stomach, and gazed into the flames. Nearby, Albus and James were sitting on the floor playing a game of Wizard Chess and it was the first peaceful moment that there had been during a rather tiring, and slightly riotous day.

"So," Rose said quietly, nudging against Scorpius' shoulder. "What was Christmas at Malfoy Manor like? You must be thinking about it."

"Um," Scorpius said, because he _had_ been thinking about it but he wasn't sure he wanted to talk about it.

"You don't have to tell me," Rose said. "I just thought you might like to."

Out of the corner of his eye Scorpius saw Albus and James lift their heads and gaze in their direction. He took a deep breath.

All day he'd felt as if the ghosts of his memories were around him and maybe it would be a good idea to talk about it.

"Well," he began, in a soft voice. "Christmas Eve my mother always used to have a party. It was sort of a tradition her family had. When I was younger, my aunt - mother's sister - was there and she'd always sneak me down for a while, and give me some of the food. I always thought my parents didn't know, but the first Christmas after my aunt died - when I was about six - my mother snuck me down instead. It was sort of funny, because it was her party, but she was sneaking around with me, and stealing food for me."

Rose laughed softly, and Scorpius did too through the tight heaviness in his throat.

"Later on, I was allowed to go," he said. "But I have to admit, it never seemed quite so much fun. It was my mother's friends and a lot of people that my father knew through business, and there weren't a lot of other children my age. Still, there was something beautiful about it, the Manor seemed to almost glow with candlelight and decorations and everyone glittered. My mother used to put some sort of charm into the wards, you see. A similar one to the one I used at Halloween."

"I want you to teach me that one," Rose said, with a smile.

"What about Christmas day?" James asked suddenly, and Scorpius almost jumped for he'd been so caught up in the memories that he'd forgotten that James and Albus were listening as well.

"That was always just for family," Scorpius said, and he paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. "Of course, lately, that just meant Mum, and Dad, and me. But it was wonderful. We'd open presents and eat a lot, just like everyone else does. Dad and I would go skating, usually," he paused as he saw James wink at Albus.

"Yes, there is an ice-rink at the Manor," he continued with a wistful smile.

"Have you been back to the Manor, Scorp?" Rose asked.

Scorpius shook his head. "Not since the funeral," he said. "I'm just not ready to go back there yet, I suppose."

Rose hummed thoughtfully and then leaned against him, linking their hands. After a while, James and Albus went back to their game and Scorpius sighed as he stared into the fire. A part of him couldn't help wishing that it was Albus' who was lying next to him, holding his hand, but he forced the thought away quickly.

And Rose was a comforting presence, soothing away the tension of talking about his family and his memories of them. It had been a hard thing to do, but Scorpius couldn't help feeling glad that he had done it.

Suddenly Rose yawned and when Scorpius immediately did the same they both laughed.

"It's getting late," Molly Weasley said, walking over from the other end of the kitchen. "I think you'd all better get to bed."

There were a few groans but Scorpius didn't really mind the idea for he was feeling rather sleepy.

Before they went to bed they all brought their presents down and placed them under the tree. There was a lot of laughter and teasing going on but Molly Weasley eventually herded them all towards the stairs.

"Honestly," she said. "If you don't go now I'll bury all of those presents in the garden and you can spend all of tomorrow digging them up."

"Just ignore her," James said to Scorpius, placing a quick kiss on top of his grandmother's head. "She makes the same threat every year."

After that, they all traipsed upstairs and went to bed.

* * *

"I can't believe that Dad and Uncle George gave you a Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes Christmas Gift Box," Hugo said, gazing at the box sitting next to Scorpius and pouting slightly. "They've never given me one."

"That's because Mum would never trust you with one," said Rose, dropping a bunch of tinsel on his head. "Remember what you did to the garden when you tried to combine a Portable Swamp with some Wildfire Whiz-bangs?"

Hugo scowled. "Well, at least we've never had any garden gnomes since then."

"Hugo," Hermione Weasley said, tapping her son on the nose as she passed by. "We haven't had a _garden_ since then. And that's why you're banned from Wizard Wheezes products."

There was a general round of laughter as Hugo continued to gaze at Scorpius' box with a jealous eye.

"Make sure you bring it back to school with you," James whispered to Scorpius with a wink. "Mum always checks our trunks but she's bound to let yours go."

"Don't count on that, James," Ginny called from the other end of the kitchen and then laughed as she held up an Extendable Ear.

"Bugger," James muttered.

Scorpius laughed and reflected that Christmas morning had actually been easier than he had expected. He'd never opened presents amongst such a large and riotous family (for Bill and Fleur Weasley and their children had now arrived, as well as George Weasley and his family) and the good humour and constant joking was infectious.

He watched out of the corner of his eye as he saw Albus pick up the present that was from Scorpius and begin to open it. Scorpius had to admit that he'd probably taken the most care when choosing it out of any of the presents he had bought and he hoped that Albus would like it as much as Scorpius loved the coat and scarf that Albus had given him.

"Oh Merlin, this is amazing, Scorp, thank you," Albus said, sounding breathless, as he held up the silver pocket watch dangling on it's chain. "I love it."

Scorpius blushed and nodded, very thankful that he'd heard Albus complaining about losing his watch.

"The chain should stop you losing it," he said, and Albus laughed.

"All right, everyone, Christmas lunch is served," Ginny called, and there was immediately a mass migration to the other end of the kitchen.

* * *

"I have eaten way too much," said Fred Weasley, patting his stomach. "But Aunt Ginny's food is way too good to leave alone."

"I thank you on behalf of my mother," James said, sprawling on the floor near his cousin. "I wish you were still at Hogwarts. Remember how we used to sneak into the kitchens?"

"Fred left Hogwarts last year," Rose whispered to Scorpius. "He's been working for his Dad and mine at the joke shop but next year he's going to Romania to join Uncle Charlie. He loves dragons."

"Um, I _know_ , Rose," Scorpius said, looking at her incredulously. "I have managed to retain my memories of the last five years at Hogwarts and you really didn't think I'd forget that Fred Weasley had been there, did you? I mean, he didn't go a week without blowing something up or burning something down."

"Oh, sorry," Rose said, blushing. "You know sometimes I forget that you were there because we weren't really friends then." She tucked her hand into his. "I'm so glad we are now."

"I am too," Scorpius said, smiling, but he couldn't help thinking over her words. He'd practically lived another life at Hogwarts back then, mostly alone, and keeping his head down, hoping not to be noticed.

And now, here he was, with a good group of friends, friends that he'd begun to love really, and hanging around with the most popular kids at the school. Not to mention that a few months ago, Albus Potter had not seemed to even know of his existence and now they were actually exchanging Christmas presents.

And all because his parents had died.

"Oh," he gasped, as the thought struck him, and his hand instinctively tightened in Rose's. She looked at him anxiously.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"I… I don't know," he muttered, letting go of her hand and getting to his feet. All he knew was that he had to get out of there and find a quiet place to think.

He practically flew across the room and out into the hallway. He paused for a moment, confused as to where to go next, and a hand landed on his shoulder.

"Come with me," Teddy said, and Scorpius followed him through a doorway and into Harry Potter's private study.

Scorpius sank into an armchair and Teddy took a seat opposite him. They sat in silence for a long moment.

"There's no crime in being happy, Scorpius," Teddy finally said. "Your parents would want you to be happy."

"How did you know that's what I was thinking?" Scorpius asked, frowning.

"I recognised the look," Teddy said. "Guilt is a human condition I'm afraid. And it's inevitable when you've lost people that you love - and you realise that life goes on and can be good - that you're going to feel some guilt."

"It's not just that," Scorpius said quietly. "But since they died, my life at Hogwarts is actually better in a lot of ways." Of course, he thought to himself, thinking of Creevey and Simon, in some ways it's also worse.

"I remember a few months after Andromeda died, feeling the same way," said Teddy. "I loved spending time with her, but it was usually just her and me, and sometimes it was boring. I wasn't even old enough to go to Hogwarts yet. And then, after she died, I came and lived here. James was little, Albus was only a baby and Lily wasn't even born yet, but it was so much fun being part of a young family. Then, one morning I woke up and I realised that, as much as I'd loved my grandmother, my life was now so much more interesting in so many ways, and I was happier in a different way."

"And you felt guilty," Scorpius said.

"Of course I did," Teddy replied. "I was in a foul mood all day and finally Harry brought me into this very room and talked to me. He didn't tell me anything particularly amazing. He just said that what I was feeling was natural and that I wasn't the first to feel it and that Andromeda would have understood. It didn't make the guilt go right away, of course, but it was easier knowing that someone else understood what I was feeling. And eventually I did stop feeling guilty about it and just got on with being happy."

Scorpius sighed and nodded. As much as the guilt lingered, he knew that Teddy was right. And it did help, knowing that Teddy understood how he felt.

For a moment he was strongly tempted to tell Teddy about what had happened with Creevey and Simon, for he found Teddy as strong and reassuring a presence as Harry Potter. The words were on the tip of his tongue when there was a knock on the door.

Teddy gave Scorpius an enquiring look, and Scorpius nodded.

"Come in," Teddy called.

The door opened and Albus came in, his eyes immediately meeting Scorpius', full of concern.

"Um, we've all decided to go out to the barn and skate," he said hopefully. "Want to join us?"

Scorpius smiled and his heart flooded with warmth at the pleased look on Albus' face.

* * *

"This was your idea, wasn't it?" Scorpius asked, as he skated beside Albus.

"Well, I remembered what you said yesterday," Albus said, and Scorpius thought he looked a little flushed. "And I also thought it would be a good way to work off some of that lunch."

"If one avoids being injured by Hugo, of course," Scorpius said, wryly as Hugo Weasley flew along the ice on his stomach.

"You know I really don't know what's wrong with him," Albus said thoughtfully. "You'd think he'd never skated before but I think Aunt Hermione has been trying to teach him since he was about six. Of course, he's fine on a broom, he'll make a great Chaser for Gryffindor next year, so Uncle Ron's happy."

Scorpius smiled but nervous tension was rising in him as he looked around and saw that no one else was near them. He knew he had to find a way to tell Albus what had happened with Creevey and he had to find it soon, and the opportunities were rare, so he was going to have to take this one.

"Al," he said softly, skating slightly closer to Albus. "Um, there's something I need to talk to you about. Alone."

Albus gave him a startled look and Scorpius frowned. "Is that all right?" he asked.

"What?" Albus said. "Yes, of course. Absolutely no problem. Whenever you'd like."

"Fine," Scorpius said, doubtfully, for Albus' strangely flustered response had only made his own nerves worse. "Could we go to your room for a while?"

Albus nodded. "All right," he said quietly, and Scorpius followed him off the ice.

They untied their skates in silence and then went back to the house.

Once in Albus' bedroom, with the door closed, Scorpius froze. Albus was looking at him expectantly and Scorpius just could not think of the words to explain what had happened.

He opened his mouth and closed it again, and Albus began to look worried.

"Look, Scorp…," Albus started to say, but he stopped when Scorpius held up a hand. He'd made a decision.

"No," Scorpius said. "I think it will be easier if I just show you."

And he pulled off his jumper and started to undo the buttons on his shirt.


	12. Chapter 12

Albus' eyes widened in panic as Scorpius began to undress in front of him. As much as he had to admit that he'd had a nice little private fantasy about a scene like this in the last couple of days, he really hadn't imagined it actually happening. And he certainly wasn't ready for it.

Albus could not believe that Scorpius had decided to do something like this, but Scorpius was still undoing buttons and looking determined. He opened his mouth to say something that would stop Scorpius without hurting his feelings but he snapped it shut again and his eyes widened even further as he saw the first bruise on Scorpius' torso.

It looked like a heel mark from a shoe, and Albus stepped forward as Scorpius turned around, showing him his back.

"Bloody hell," Albus breathed. He reached out a hand and drifted it gently along one of the bruises on Scorpius' back, but pulled it back sharply when Scorpius visibly shivered.

Scorpius faced him again and Albus eyed the bruise on his chest. A part of him couldn't help noticing that Scorpius was gracefully slender and his skin was smooth and looked soft. If the dark bruising hadn't marred him he would have been as white as porcelain. He was nothing like the hard athletic muscle of Simon, and Albus was a little surprised at how much he wanted to reach out and touch Scorpius again. His pulse quickened at the idea of running his lips over Scorpius' skin, tasting it, but he firmly suppressed it as Scorpius pulled his shirt closed.

"Creevey," Albus said suddenly, several ideas finally clicking into place in his mind. "It was Creevey that did this, wasn't it?"

Scorpius nodded.

"And this has happened before, hasn't it?" Albus asked, his eyes narrowing. "That time you said you fell off a ladder in the library. That was Creevey too, wasn't it?"

Scorpius nodded again.

"Merlin, Scorpius, why the _fuck_ didn't you _tell_ anyone?" Albus couldn't stop the angry words bursting out and he saw Scorpius flinch.

"There were no witnesses," Scorpius said softly. "And I'm telling you now."

Albus ran a shaking hand through his hair and strode around the room. "I'm going to fucking kill that bastard when we get back to Hogwarts."

"Al-"

"But I'm going to torture him first. I'll use every hex known to wizard on him-"

"Albus."

" _What?_ " Albus snarled, whirling around to face Scorpius and when he saw him flinch again, the overwhelming anger he'd been feeling drained away.

"Sorry," he said, and Scorpius smiled faintly.

"As much as I appreciate your anger," Scorpius said. "Your expulsion from Hogwarts is not going to help me. Even if Creevey is expelled along with you."

"I know," Albus sighed. "I'm sorry."

Without really thinking about it he stepped forward and pulled Scorpius into his arms. He felt Scorpius' moment of reluctance and then Scorpius moved closer and leaned his head on Albus' shoulder and suddenly Albus' pulse was racing again, and his arms tightened instinctively. He heard Scorpius' gasp of pain and felt him arch against him, as if he was trying to escape from the pressure of Albus' hands on his back, and then his slender, white throat was right there and it was so easy for Albus just to drop his head slightly and brush his lips lightly against it.

He pulled back immediately but not before he heard another gasp from Scorpius that wasn't one of pain. Albus closed his eyes for a moment in frustration at his own stupidity and then gently let Scorpius go. Scorpius looked confused and Albus quickly decided, with some regret, that the best option was to pretend it had not happened.

"All right," he said quietly, crossing the room and sitting on his bed. "We have to decide how to handle this Creevey problem."

Scorpius stood for a moment, still looking bewildered, and then he buttoned up his shirt and went and sat on his own bed. Albus took a quick breath of relief.

"What do you suggest?" Scorpius asked.

"Well, when Simon gets here, I think we should talk to him. He's a Gryffindor prefect and he knows Creevey better than…" Albus faltered as he saw the doubtful, angry look on Scorpius' face.

"Look, I know that you don't get on that well with Simon," he said. "But he _is_ a Gryffindor prefect. If he knew what Creevey was doing-"

"He _does_ know."

Albus froze and he stared at Scorpius in amazement, not entirely sure that he had heard correctly.

"What?" he finally said.

"The last time it happened, he was there," Scorpius said.

"You're telling me that _Simon_ was there whilst Creevey physically attacked you?"

"Well, he wasn't actually there whilst _that_ happened," Scorpius said. "But he walked away beforehand and I have to say, I'm fairly sure he knew what was going to happen."

Albus got up from his bed and paced the floor again, almost feeling numb with shock. There was no way this could be true, he thought, but at the same time he felt that Scorpius wouldn't lie about this. It had to be some sort of terrible misunderstanding because the Simon that Albus thought he knew would never do something like this.

He had to talk to Simon. As soon as possible.

Albus stopped pacing and faced Scorpius, and immediately noticed how strained and pale he looked.

"Are you all right?" he asked. "I mean, you've been wandering around for over a week with all of these bruises. Are you sure you're not more injured than that?"

Scorpius nodded and smiled faintly. "The Quidditch team bathroom medical supplies have been very helpful," he said.

Albus gave him a quick smile. "Good," he said. "Look, can you wait here? I have to do something, but I'll be back as soon as I can."

Scorpius looked worried for a moment, and then he nodded again, and Albus quickly left the room.

* * *

Albus found his dad downstairs, pulling off his coat, and heaved a sigh of relief that he was alone.

"Dad, can I make a floo call to Simon? It's sort of urgent," Albus said quickly, and his father frowned.

"He'll be here day after tomorrow. Can't you wait that long to talk to him?"

"No, I can't," Albus said shortly. "It really is urgent. And I need to talk to him privately."

His father patted him on the shoulder. "Use my study then."

Albus smiled gratefully and a minute later he was sticking his head into the fireplace.

"Albus?"

Albus gazed upwards as Simon knelt in front of the fireplace.

"Hi Simon," Albus said. "Are you alone?"

"Yeah," Simon said, with a smile. "Merry Christmas, love. Did you like my present? I loved yours."

Albus nodded and then there was an awkward silence whilst Albus struggled to find the words to ask what he desperately wanted to know without sounding like a complete bastard.

Eventually Simon frowned. "Albus, what's wrong?" he asked, with a worried tone.

"Look, there's no good way to do this," Albus said, trying to keep the frustration out of his voice, "so I'm just going to ask outright. Did you know that Martin Creevey has been attacking Scorpius? Physically, I mean. Beating him up. He's covered in bruises."

There was a moment of silence in which Albus tried to read the expression on Simon's face, but with little success. Never had he felt so at a loss with his boyfriend.

"What did he say?" Simon said, and his voice was angry.

"He said that you were there, that you left him with Creevey and that you might have realised what was going to happen," Albus said.

"He's lying," Simon said firmly, and Albus almost gasped. "Yes, I saw him with Creevey. They were talking, and I gave Creevey a message from James and then I left. I had no idea that anything violent was going to happen between them, and Scorpius is lying if he says that I did. For fuck's sake, I'm a prefect, Albus. Do you really think I'd walk away from something like that?"

"Simon," Albus said, trying to keep calm. "I don't think that Scorpius would lie and-"

"So, you're saying that you believe him, and that you don't believe _me_?"

Simon sounded furiously incredulous and Albus took a deep breath and shook his head.

"Merlin's balls, I'm not saying that at all," he said. "I'm saying that this was probably a misunderstanding and that you can't just assume that Scorpius is lying. And Creevey _did_ attack him."

"Oh," Simon said, raising one eyebrow. "And how do you know that?"

Albus spluttered slightly. "You know that Creevey has always teased Scorpius…"

"Teasing is one thing," Simon said. "Beating someone up is another. Martin wouldn't do something like that."

"Well, who did then?" Albus asked, now incredulous himself. "And why would Scorpius say it was Creevey if it wasn't?"

"Well, Al, if Scorpius lied about me you might have to consider that he's lying about Creevey as well."

"Oh, why, because he's a Malfoy?" Albus asked sarcastically.

"Yes," Simon said seriously and Albus was speechless.

Eventually Simon sighed. "Look, Al," he said. "You know I hate arguing with you. When I get there we'll talk to Scorpius and get this sorted-"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Albus interrupted.

"What?"

"I just think," Albus said, "that it could be very awkward if the both of you are here before we get things sorted out with Creevey."

"So, Scorpius is going to the Manor, then?" Simon asked, his eyes narrowed, and Albus shook his head.

"He can't do that," he said simply, and waited.

"Are you _serious_ , Al? _Really_?"

Albus closed his eyes against the hurt he could see in Simon's face and nodded. When he opened his eyes again, Simon was leaning closer to the fireplace.

"Is that the only reason you don't want me to come?"

Albus thought of that moment upstairs, and the moment when he'd almost kissed Scorpius on the ice, and he had to be honest. He'd known that he wanted to take his mother's advice and that hadn't changed.

"I'd been thinking that maybe it would be a good idea if we had some space from each other these holidays," he said, watching Simon's eyes widen. "Just to have some time to think about things."

"I don't need time, Albus," Simon said, his voice tight. "But I gather that you do."

"Yes," Albus sighed. "I'm sorry, Simon, really sorry. There's some stuff I need to sort out, alone. And I want to be fair to you."

There was a long silence and Albus was glad to see that Simon didn't look angry but merely thoughtful. He wondered if he should ask what he was thinking about but before he could say anything, Simon smiled weakly.

"Maybe you're right, Albus," he said, gently. "Perhaps we do need to think about where we are in this relationship and where we're going. We've only a year after this one left at Hogwarts – it can't hurt to think about the future."

Albus breathed a sigh of relief at Simon's understanding look and smiled gratefully.

"Thanks, Simon," he said. "I'll see you at the New Year's party, yeah?"

Simon nodded and Albus pulled his head out of the fireplace, sighing as he realised that they hadn't really resolved anything about the whole Scorpius and Creevey situation.

He thought about what Simon had said about Scorpius a few moments ago, and at other times in the last few weeks. This was a side to Simon that Albus hadn't seen before, this sort of blind, stupid prejudice against someone and he wondered if that was part of the reason he'd started to feel less connected to Simon. And more connected to Scorpius.

He rose quickly to his feet, remembering that Scorpius was still waiting for him upstairs, and sighed again. Now, he was going to have to think of something to say to Scorpius.

When he got to the kitchen most of his family were gathered there, drinking hot chocolate. He shook his head as his father offered him a mug.

"Can you tell Mum and the others that Simon's not coming?" he said quietly into his father's ear. "I'm going upstairs."

His father nodded but frowned. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Albus said, not quite meeting his father's eyes. "We're just taking a little break from each other."

"Well that can be a good idea," his father said, and Albus nodded, then headed for the stairs.

* * *

When Albus got back to his bedroom, Hugo was sitting beside Scorpius, chatting enthusiastically.

"You," Albus said shortly, pointing at his cousin. "Out. I need to talk to Scorpius about something."

"Fine, fine," Hugo said resentfully, but he looked intently curious as he slowly left the room, and Albus smiled as he pushed him out of the door and closed it in his face.

"So," he said, as he crossed the room and sat on his bed. "I talked to Simon. He said he didn't know what Creevey was going to do."

"I see," Scorpius said, and Albus looked up quickly hearing the anger in his voice. "And you believe him."

"Scorp, I know that you think he…" Albus began, but he broke off when Scorpius stood up. He could see that Scorpius was trembling, and he was pretty sure it was from fury, even though he'd never really seen Scorpius that angry.

"Of course you believe him," Scorpius said. "I mean, why would you believe me? After all, I'm a Malfoy and everyone _knows_ that _Malfoys_ can't be trusted."

He crossed the room quickly, but before he reached the door, Albus stood and quickly grabbed his hand, pulling him back.

"Don't you start with that rubbish," he said, his own anger rising as Scorpius stumbled slightly and then tried to pull his hand away. "Calm down and let me talk to you."

Albus continued to hold Scorpius in place even though Scorpius wouldn't turn to face him, but eventually he saw Scorpius' shoulders relax and the tension seemed to run out of him.

"I'm sorry," he said, finally turning and meeting Albus' eyes. "I'm just so tired of all this."

And he looked it, Albus thought, as he led him back to the bed and sat down beside him, keeping hold of his hand.

"I don't want you to think that I think you're lying, Scorpius," Albus said, gently. "Because I don't. But you have to understand that I've been with Simon for a long time and he's never lied to me. You said that Simon didn't actually see Creevey hit you and if there is any chance that there has been a misunderstanding then I have to give Simon that chance. Can you understand that?"

It was a hard question to ask, knowing of Scorpius' crush on him, and with his own doubts about his feelings in the back of his mind, but Albus had to ask it.

Eventually he heard Scorpius sigh softly and he couldn't help feeling a little disappointed when Scorpius withdrew his hand.

"Of course I understand," Scorpius said quietly. "You love him."

And Albus found himself biting down on the instant denial that sprang to his lips, and then knew a moment of utter panic. Just a few short weeks ago he wouldn't have thought twice about agreeing with that statement but now, hearing it from Scorpius, and hearing the slight tinge of disappointment in his voice, all Albus wanted to do was quickly reassure him.

_Of what?_ , he thought franticly, _that I'm interested in him, or that I don't love Simon?_

He sat there, completely speechless, knowing that he was now caught in a mire of confusion, until Scorpius got up and went and sat on his own bed.

"I understand," he said again, in a firm voice, and Albus blinked, feeling as if he was coming out of a daze.

"Thank you," he finally said, after clearing his throat, rather nervously. "And, um, the other thing is that Simon won't be coming here now. We, ah, thought it would be best until we get this sorted out."

Scorpius looked up, his eyes full of questions, but he didn't say anything.

They stared at each other for a moment, and then they both jumped when Albus' mother knocked on the door and called them down to supper.

* * *

Of course there was still the problem of Creevey and Albus was awake half the night seething with ideas for revenge.

As soon as the first dim morning light began to seep through the curtains into the room, he got up and got dressed.

Fortunately when he went downstairs, Rose and James were already there, so he didn't have to sneak into their rooms and risk their anger in waking them up. Instead he dragged them - complaining bitterly about the cold all the way - into the Big Barn and pushed them down onto an old couch.

"So, this is an unofficial Hogwarts Prefects meeting?" Rose asked, rubbing her nose.

"Yep, between Slytherin and Gryffindor, with the Head Boy present," Albus replied, nodding at James. "There's a problem with two students from our houses."

"Fine," James said, waving a majestic hand. "You may continue," he added and then ignored the thump Rose gave him on the shoulder.

Albus took a deep breath and told them about what had happened between Scorpius and Creevey.

"Well, he's off the Quidditch team," James said immediately, and Albus felt like hugging his brother. "I always thought he was a bit of a fuckwit, even if he is a good Quidditch player."

Rose was still spluttering with anger, and Albus winced slightly. He'd never heard her swear so much before and he hoped he never would again.

"Rose, shut up," James finally said sharply, and Rose coughed and cleared her throat.

"We have to go to Professor Sprout as soon as we get back to Hogwarts," she said. "No, actually we have to tell Teddy, or Uncle Harry."

James met Albus' eyes as Rose watched them expectantly.

"There were no witnesses right?" he asked, and after a hesitant moment Albus nodded. There was no point in mentioning Simon when that whole situation was unresolved.

"That's why Scorpius never reported it," Albus said. "And he seems to think that no one would have believed him."

Rose muttered something under her breath that Albus chose to ignore.

James hummed thoughtfully. "I think we'll have to handle it between the four of us."

"The four of us?" Rose questioned.

"Simon's a Gryffindor prefect," James said, frowning as Albus shook his head.

"I think we should leave him out of this," he said. "He's, ah, well, he's friends with Creevey. He's sort of compromised."

"But surely if he knew-" Rose began, and James interrupted her quickly.

"Leave it, Rose," he said, his eyes still on Albus. "Al's right. We leave Simon out of it."

"Oh, is that why he's not coming tomorrow?" Rose asked.

Albus felt his face heat as James continued to watch him.

"He won't be here for various reasons," he finally said, and he saw the dawning comprehension in Rose's eyes. "Now, let's get back to why we are here."

"All right then," Rose agreed, and Albus was thankful for her quick acceptance of the change of subject. "What exactly are we going to do? Keep an eye on Creevey and try to get proof? Wouldn't that put Scorpius at risk?"

Albus shook his head. "No, I think we have to make Creevey back off. For good."

"And how do we do that?" Rose asked, doubtfully.

"Have you forgotten that I'm a Slytherin, Rose?" he asked, with a smirk. "I'll make Creevey's life hell and he won't even know who's doing it."


	13. Chapter 13

Scorpius sat on the kitchen sofa with Lily and Hugo and ran his fingers lightly over the place on his throat where he was certain he had felt Albus' lips the day before. When Albus had acted as if it hadn't happened Scorpius had begun to think that it was his own imagination that had conjured up the moment, but the sensation had been too real. In the end, he'd decided that it must have been some sort of accident. After all, Scorpius thought, he _had_ moved suddenly, trying to get away from the pressure on his bruises. Albus had probably been either too embarrassed, or didn't see it as important enough, to mention it.

He hadn't seen Albus yet, and James and Rose seemed to be missing as well, but he wasn't left wondering where they were for long, because the kitchen door suddenly slammed open and the three of them clattered through it, discarding coats and scarves.

Rose immediately came over to him and pulled him up into a light hug.

"I wish you had told us sooner," she whispered, and Scorpius' heart sank.

Beyond telling Albus, he hadn't thought too much about anyone else finding out and as his eyes met Albus' over Rose's shoulder he couldn't help feeling a flash of annoyance that Albus had taken it upon himself to tell the others without talking to Scorpius first.

"All right," he said into Rose's ear in a low voice. "I want you to tell James and Albus not to tell anyone else. Please."

Then he let go of Rose, gave her a tight smile, and walked out of the room.

He'd only just got into the hallway, when a hand landed on his arm and he was pulled into Harry Potter's study.

"You're angry with me," Albus said, as Scorpius turned to face him. "But Scorpius, you have to remember that I'm a prefect. I can't just ignore what you reported to me."

"I didn't expect you to go running to James and Rose without talking to me," Scorpius said, flatly.

"Look, I called a Prefect's meeting between Gryffindor and Slytherin," Albus said. "With the Head Boy. But it was unofficial, and it will stay between us, I promise you. We can't just leave things as they are, we had to decide what to do about Creevey."

Scorpius sighed. "I didn't want to leave things as they are," he said. "That's why I told you about it."

They stared at each other for a moment and then Scorpius relented and smiled slightly.

"All right, what did you decide to do then?" he asked.

Albus shifted his feet in a way that Scorpius thought looked decidedly nervous.

"Um, I can't actually tell you that," he said, and Scorpius raised his brow, incredulously.

"What?"

"We're going to take care of it, Scorpius," Albus said quickly. "But it will be better if you don't know exactly what's going on. Don't worry, we'll make sure that Creevey doesn't get near you."

"Al, that isn't fair," Scorpius said, shaking his head. "I need to know what's happening."

"I'm sorry, Scorp," Albus said, giving Scorpius a disarming smile that made him forget his previous irritation. "But we agreed to keep this as prefect's business. This way you can't get into trouble for anything that might happen."

Scorpius was dumbfounded, and suddenly very worried, for there was a look in Albus' eyes that a prefect probably shouldn't have.

"I don't want any of _you_ getting into trouble," he said, watching Albus carefully.

"We won't," Albus said, with another smile. "Everything will be fine, Scorpius."

And Scorpius reflected that this was exactly what he'd wanted to hear Albus say, but somehow it didn't sound as reassuring as he'd thought it would.

* * *

Over the next few days, his concern only increased for there were quite a few moments when he walked in on James, Rose and Albus having a whispered conversation that would end abruptly as soon as they saw him. They were very polite about it but he couldn't help feeling annoyed with them. This was his problem after all, and to have it taken so completely out of his hands made him feel as if he was some sort of damsel in distress.

He was also fairly certain that there were some items missing from his Weasley's Wizard Wheezes gift box, but that could just as well have been Hugo, so Scorpius chose not to mention it. After all, if they were only going to tell him that it was ' _for his own good_ ' that he not know what they were up to, he wasn't going to lower himself by showing any curiosity.

Besides he was suffering from a feeling of dejection that he couldn't ignore and sapped his energy. It had hurt when he'd thought that Albus thought he was lying, and whilst that had passed when Albus had explained himself, he still couldn't escape his disappointment over the fact that Albus had chosen to give Simon the benefit of the doubt.

He knew now that a part of him had hoped that Albus would break up with Simon, and that perhaps Scorpius would then have a chance, and that had been a completely humiliating realisation in the wake of his discovery of how much Albus apparently loved Simon.

And he obviously did, very much. And it made Scorpius doubt his own version of events. Had he really seen that moment of guilty knowledge in Simon's eyes before he'd walked away – or had he just imagined it because he'd wanted to believe the worst of Albus' boyfriend.

He couldn't help regretting telling Albus about Simon and it was even more annoying because he hadn't actually meant to. But when Albus had immediately started going on about talking to Simon, Scorpius had let his irritation get the better of him.

He couldn't help wondering, though, what had prompted the decision for Simon not to join them. Scorpius found it easier without him there, but he could see that Albus was often thoughtful and he guessed that he was either thinking about or missing Simon.

Fortunately the weather got better and they were able to spend more time outside. Sledding, or skating in the barn, as well as the occasional impromptu Quidditch game kept them busy and Scorpius' mood gradually improved.

And then New Year's Eve arrived and Simon Crimshaw turned up for the party.

* * *

For some reason Scorpius had assumed that Simon would not be there, if he'd thought about it at all, so it was a bit of a shock, when after a very busy day helping the Potters prepare and decorate for the party, he'd seen the flash of green in the corner of his eye and turned to see Simon standing near the fireplace with two people who were obviously his parents.

Scorpius looked around, rather desperately, and his heart sank when he realised that he was the only one in the kitchen. It had been a great mistake, he decided, to linger over a cup of tea before going upstairs to get changed.

"Um, hello," he said, and Simon's mother smiled at him.

"This is Scorpius Malfoy," Simon said to his parents.

"Hmm, Malfoy, you say," Simon's father said, frowning, and Scorpius held out his hand.

"Yes," he said. "Pleased to meet you."

There was a moment of tense silence and then Simon's mother took his hand, still smiling, and Scorpius decided that he liked her.

"I'm pleased too," she said. "I was sorry to hear about your parents. I met your mother a few times, she was a lovely person."

"Thank you," he said. "Harry and Ginny are in the living room if you want to go through."

They nodded and went out into the hallway but Simon stayed behind and Scorpius' heart started to beat harder.

"Where's Al?" Simon asked quietly, and it was at that moment that Scorpius realised he hadn't made a mistake about what had happened with Simon and Creevey, for Simon was not meeting his eyes.

"He's upstairs," Scorpius said. "He went up to get changed. He should be down in a minute."

"In fact, I'm here."

They both turned to see Albus standing in the doorway.

"Hi, Simon," he continued. "Scorp, you should get changed."

It was a clear dismissal, but it was one that Scorpius was happy to take. He left the room quickly, but not without taking one last look over his shoulder into the kitchen.

Albus was leaning against the kitchen table talking quietly, and Simon was holding his hand.

* * *

Thankfully Michael and Adrian and, to Scorpius' great delight, Peony, also turned up and so he was able to spend most of his time with them and Rose. Whenever Simon and Albus were with them, Scorpius usually managed to find an excuse to wander off and talk to someone else.

He was chatting to Hugo when he felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned around and found Fabian Smith grinning at him.

"Hi, beautiful," Fabian said, and he put a finger under Scorpius' chin and pushed his gaping mouth closed. "Don't look so shocked. James always invites me. Didn't he tell you?"

Scorpius shook his head, still a little surprised at how glad he felt to see Fabian.

"No," he said. "He didn't."

"Ah well," Fabian said. "Then it makes it a nice surprise, I hope?"

"Yes," Scorpius said with a smile, and Fabian's grin widened. He moved closer.

"So," he said, in a low voice. "Do you think there's any mistletoe still around?"

"The Potters don't hang mistletoe," Scorpius said, feeling his cheeks beginning to heat.

"What?" Fabian looked outraged. "That's disgraceful. I shall have to have a word with James about that. I was counting on that mistletoe."

Scorpius couldn't help laughing and then there was another tap on his shoulder and Albus handed them both glasses of punch.

"Here," he said. "Not quite as good as the Halloween punch but I thought you'd like some all the same. Hi Fabian, no Firewhiskey in your pocket this time?"

"Merlin no, Al," Fabian laughed. "You know I'm terrified of your mother. I wouldn't risk it."

"James and Fred were looking for you a moment ago," Albus said. "They're in the kitchen now, I think."

"Oh, really?" Fabian said, and Scorpius saw that he was looking at Albus with a strangely speculative expression. "All right."

Then he smiled at Scorpius and took his hand. "Let's go and find James and Fred," he said, and Scorpius found himself being pulled across the room. When they got to the doorway, Fabian turned and looked down at Scorpius, laughing.

"He'll have to do better than that," he said. "First no mistletoe and now Albus Potter on guard duty. What sort of party is this?"

He winked at Scorpius, who was feeling rather bewildered by what had just happened, and then ushered him into the kitchen.

* * *

Scorpius stayed in the kitchen with Fabian, Fred and James until just before midnight and then they were all called into the large living room for the countdown. Scorpius leaned against the wall next to Fabian, and grinned happily when Peony and Adrian struggled through the crowd to join them.

"Where have you been?" Peony whispered, and then she eyed Fabian. "Or maybe I shouldn't ask."

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Give it a rest," he said quietly. "I bet you only just noticed I was gone."

Peony giggled and snuggled closer to Adrian who looked thoroughly smitten in Scorpius' opinion. He was glad they were so happy but in some ways it tore at his heart, and then just to make it worse, a gap cleared across the room and he saw Albus and Simon with their arms around each other and their mouths glued together.

"Happy New Year, Scorp," Peony said, planting a loud, smacking kiss on his cheek and Adrian and Fabian burst out laughing.

"I think you've killed his brain, Peony," Adrian said. "He looks like you've stupefied him. Mind you, your kisses have that effect on me too," he added, waggling his eyebrows.

"Oh, that was truly bad," Peony said, laughing and kissing him as well. "You're really going to have to improve your wit if we're going to stay together."

An arm nudged against Scorpius jostling him out of the daze he'd been in.

"Hey," Fabian said, quietly. "Wake up, and Happy New Year, Scorpius."

"Thanks," Scorpius said, forcing a smile on his face. "And to you too."

"I'm rather miffed that Peony got to you first," Fabian said, winking. "Between that and the mistletoe my heart is breaking."

 _Mine too_ , Scorpius thought as the image of Albus with Simon rose before his eyes. Firmly he pushed it aside. He wasn't going to dwell on that and the start of the new year seemed a good time to do what he should have done weeks ago.

He'd always known that he should have no hope about Albus and what he'd just seen had proved it completely. For his own good, Scorpius decided, he had to stop dreaming about someone who was unattainable and finally move on.

"You know," Fabian whispered in his ear. "If this was Monday instead of Friday, I'd have a question for you, beautiful."

Scorpius shivered slightly and for the first time he thought that he might just say yes.

* * *

The next day was a strangely languid one in the Potter household for it had been the early hours of the morning before they'd all finally got to bed and everyone was tired. So most of the day was spent lounging around in the kitchen, drinking cups of tea, and Scorpius managed to stay as far away from Albus as possible. He was still determined to move on from his infatuation, and whilst in one way he was dreading returning to Hogwarts and facing the Creevey situation, in another way it meant that he would be able to more easily avoid Albus.

After a quiet weekend, on Monday they met up with Michael, Adrian and Peony in Diagon Alley. At one point, Adrian asked Albus where Simon was, and when Albus replied shortly that he'd been busy, no one questioned it further.

Then there was a frantic day of packing on Tuesday, made particularly so by the fact that Hugo seemed to have lost the entire contents of his trunk, and then suddenly they were on the Hogwarts Express headed back to school.

Not long after they'd all finally settled into a compartment there was a knock on the door and Simon came in. Scorpius thought he looked slightly nervous, but he smiled when Albus waved him into the seat next to him and they fell into a quiet conversation. He tried to ignore them, but at one point he looked over and Simon was watching him with an expression that Scorpius quickly recognised. It was guilty defiance and it made Scorpius furious, and he quickly got up and left the compartment.

He leaned against a window frame in the corridor and watched the countryside flashing by outside. His anger about Simon couldn't be ignored. The other boy had deliberately lied about what had happened with Creevey, of that Scorpius now had no doubts, and no matter what his own feelings about Albus, he couldn't stand the thought that his friend's boyfriend had lied to him and Albus was oblivious to that fact. It wasn't right; and Scorpius decided that at the first opportunity he was going to tell Simon exactly that.

He felt movement near by and looked up to find Albus standing beside him.

"Scorp," he said quietly. "I know that it's hard for you to have Simon around with the way things are, but I was hoping… I mean I wanted to make sure that you aren't still angry with me. We haven't talked much in the last couple of days."

Scorpius eventually shook his head. "No, I'm not angry," he said. "I've just had a bit to think about."

"So have I," Albus said with a sigh, and Scorpius looked at him curiously. He'd never seen Albus so sombre before, and he looked tired.

"Are you all right?" he asked, letting his anxiety show, and Albus smiled.

"Yeah," he said. "So, I wanted to talk to you about Creevey as well."

Scorpius frowned, but accepted the change of subject, especially if it meant that Albus was actually going to tell him what was going on.

"What about him?" he asked.

"It will take about a week for us to take care of him," Albus said, a gleam coming into his eyes. "And I want you to promise me that you won't wander around Hogwarts alone. We don't have to tell the others but make sure you stay close to them, all right? Creevey might get a bit… um… frazzled."

Scorpius narrowed his eyes. "Al, I'm worried about-"

"Don't be," Albus interrupted. "It will all be fine, I promise you. You may even find it entertaining."

Scorpius sighed in frustration as Albus grinned and went back into the compartment. He really wished that he knew what they were going to do.

* * *

It was towards the end of breakfast the very next day that Scorpius began to get an idea of exactly how Albus, James, and Rose were going to handle the Creevey situation. He was buttering his toast when he heard the swell of laughter building in the Great Hall but it was Trevor Pucey's astonished voice that made him look up.

"Why in all the wizarding world is Martin Creevey wearing a _skirt_ to breakfast?"

Scorpius could hardly believe his eyes, but sure enough Martin Creevey was walking into the Great Hall, looking absolutely furious, and definitely wearing a Gryffindor uniform girl's skirt. He plunked down on the Gryffindor bench next to one of his friends and glared around the Hall before bending his head over his breakfast.

A few moments later, Lily hurried over to the Slytherin table and squeezed in beside Albus.

"It's been the most hilarious morning," she said, her eyes brimming with laughter. "Someone has put some sort of transfiguration charm on Martin Creevey during the night. Every time he touches a pair of trousers it turns into a skirt and as soon as he let's go it turns back into trousers. Professor Cratherwaite is furious about it but he says it's an advanced piece of magic and he couldn't find a way to reverse it. Eventually he sent Creevey to the hospital wing but apparently Madame Pomfrey said that there wasn't actually anything wrong with him and he could go to classes."

Most of the Slytherin table broke into laughter but Scorpius looked over at the Gryffindor table with suspicion. Rose, he knew, was very good at both Transfiguration and Charms, but he couldn't for the life of him think how she could've got into a boy's dormitory. And she looked supremely innocent sitting at the Gryffindor table, chatting with a friend.

The main topic of conversation throughout Hogwarts for the rest of the day was what had happened to Creevey, but as it was Thursday, Scorpius didn't see him again until dinner, for which he was fairly grateful. Unfortunately it also meant that he didn't see Simon either, which normally would have pleased him, but he was still determined to find a way to speak with him alone.

* * *

It was when Simon joined them at break the following day that Scorpius heard about the next thing to happen to Martin Creevey.

"I'm sorry I'm late," Simon said, looking at Albus with what Scorpius thought was wary suspicion. "But there was an incident in Herbology this morning, and I've just left the hospital wing."

"What happened?" Peony asked, her voice full of concern.

"Well, Professor Longbottom thought that Martin Creevey must have been infected by some sort of fungal virus. He sent him to Madame Pomfrey and she quarantined Greenhouse 5, but then Madame Pomfrey found the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes wrapper in his pocket. Professor Longbottom thinks that Martin tried to get the Greenhouse closed down because of a prac test he set for next week, so he reported it to Professor Sprout and she's given him detention. And, of course, Martin just has to wait for it to go away. Madame Pomfrey says it will take about a week."

"Wait for _what_ to go away?" Adrian asked, sounding puzzled, but Scorpius was remembering that the ' _Fantastic Fungi That Grow Anywhere'_ packet was one of the things that had gone missing from his gift box.

"He's got a large red and green toadstool growing out of his left ear," Simon said, and he looked like he wanted to laugh. "I have to admit, it really does look extraordinary."

And when Scorpius saw Martin Creevey at Care of Magical Creatures later that morning, he found himself agreeing with Simon Crimshaw for the first time ever.

* * *

It was a quiet weekend for there was no Hogsmeade visit on the first weekend back at school, and the weather was still freezing so most people stayed indoors.

Scorpius had hoped to be able to catch Simon alone at some point, but it was difficult when he was always with someone else, and Simon, himself, seemed to be keeping a very low profile.

As was Martin Creevey. Of course, his appearance alone was enough to get everyone talking but when he turned up to Sunday breakfast with bright purple hair the main reaction seemed to be astonished silence.

"That really is too much," Trevor Pucey suddenly exclaimed loudly, sounding exasperated. "This is a serious place of learning. I appeal to you Professor Cratherwaite," he continued, standing up and facing the head of Gryffindor house at the staff table, "I appeal to you, please curb this apparent new fashion amongst your students for taking on such a ridiculous appearance. This sort of thing may be deemed appropriate for Halloween, although I object to the practice myself, but it is hardly appropriate for an environment of studious learning and endeavour as august as Hogwarts. This student," he spluttered, pointing a trembling finger at Creevey, whilst the rest of the student body watched the usually timid and quiet student with amazement, "is reducing Hogwarts to the status of a circus tent, and I, for one, won't stand for it."

Trevor finished his impassioned speech and took his seat to the sound of growing applause, whilst Simon Crimshaw and another Gryffindor, physically restrained Martin Creevey from vaulting over the table and trying to get to him.

After a few minutes order was restored, and Scorpius turned to watch Albus calmly finishing his breakfast. He raised an eyebrow as Albus grinned at him.

"Who would have thought old Trevor had it in him, hey," Albus said.

* * *

On Monday morning Simon sat down beside Albus at the Slytherin table and sighed wearily.

"What's up?" asked Adrian.

"I'm a little worried about Martin," Simon said. "I think there may actually be something wrong with him. He says that someone has been following him around all weekend, whispering at him, but there's never anyone there, and now he thinks he's being haunted."

"Perhaps he's going mad," Albus said mildly, and Simon frowned at him.

"You don't know anything about this, do you?" he asked.

Albus gave him an indecipherable look. "You know my opinion of Creevey," he said, his voice cold. "And I can assure you, I've got better things to do than follow him around everywhere, even if I could make myself invisible."

Simon flushed, and his eyes flitted to Scorpius, and Scorpius could clearly see the guilt and anxiety in them and it made him more determined then ever to talk to Simon. But, he thought, he needed help and luckily he knew the perfect person to ask for it.

* * *

Everyone was rather subdued in Potions that morning for Martin Creevey really did look absolutely frightful. He was still wearing a skirt, and the toadstool in his ear and growing along his face was now higher than the top of his head and it clashed horribly with his purple hair. He was deathly pale and one of his eyes had developed a twitch.

Even Professor Snorpatch kept away from him as they worked on their potions but when halfway through the lesson Creevey's cauldron erupted into a plume of bright orange liquid that splashed all over him, she could no longer ignore him.

"Really, Creevey," she said, in an exasperated voice. "I've mentioned five times that the saffron fireflame powder should not be added until our next lesson. Haven't you been listening at all?"

"I didn't add it," Creevey said, sounding panicked and holding up a jar. "Look, I added apricot frogspawn powder just like you said."

She strode over to his bench and looked over the bottles from his Potion's kit.

"Foolish boy," she said, frowning. "All of these bottles are completely mislabelled. I'm amazed you haven't blown up the school. Twenty points from Gryffindor and you will stay behind in the free period and relabel all of your bottles correctly."

Creevey gaped at the bottles and actually looked as if he might burst into tears, as Professor Snorpatch waved her wand and cleaned up the mess. Unfortunately, the orange streaks on Creevey's face and hands remained.

"I'm afraid that the discolouration on your skin will stay for at least a couple of weeks," she said. "Consider it suitable punishment for your carelessness." She stood and eyed him for a moment. "Although taking into account the rest of your appearance it hardly makes a difference."

Creevey glared around the room for a moment as if daring anyone to laugh and then his shoulders slumped in defeat.

* * *

"How are you doing all of this?" Scorpius asked quietly as he followed Albus out of Potions.

Albus' eyes flicked to Simon who was walking ahead of them, and he took Scorpius' arm and pulled him into a side corridor.

"I'll tell you eventually," he said. "I promise."

Scorpius sighed. "Why don't you trust me?" he asked, and Albus immediately frowned. "You can't think I'd tell anyone."

"Hey, no," Albus said, taking Scorpius' hand. "Don't think that. It's just that even though we haven't been caught, and I'm positive we won't be, there's still a chance. I don't want you involved."

"Do you really think all of this craziness is going to change anything?" Scorpius asked, despondently.

A few students wandered past and Albus pulled Scorpius into a nearby window alcove.

"I know it seems like just practical jokes," he said, stepping closer. "But we do have a plan to make sure he never touches you again. I promise you."

Scorpius was silent, unable to look away from Albus' sparkling green eyes. He was starting to regret talking to Albus and ending up alone with him, because it was only proving that as much as he wanted to move on, he was still drawn to him.

"I do trust you, Scorp," Albus said, softly, moving closer again. "And I'm asking you to trust me. Will you?"

Scorpius finally nodded and his breath caught in his throat when Albus smiled. Then Albus brushed his fingers along Scorpius' chin in a strangely intimate gesture and Scorpius shivered.

"Thanks," Albus whispered. "You're so-"

"Albus, where the hell are you?"

It was Simon, sounding very annoyed, and an answering irritation seemed to flicker in Albus' eyes before he abruptly left the alcove.

Scorpius stayed there for a while, with his eyes closed, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart.

* * *

It was at break that Scorpius finally saw Fabian and he sighed with relief as he took the Gryffindor's arm and led him away from the Quad.

"I need to talk to you," he said, as they walked along the suspension bridge. "I need your help."

"With what?" Fabian asked.

"I was… um… wondering if you could help me get into the Gryffindor 6th year boy's dorm," he said, flushing as Fabian's eyebrows rose in astonishment.

"Why in Merlin's name-" Fabian began but Scorpius quickly interrupted him.

"I need to talk to someone alone," he said. "And I sort of need you to keep Martin Creevey out of the way as well."

"Well, that won't be hard," Fabian said, grinning. "Creevey's been acting like a demented freak lately. Not to mention looking like one as well. But why would I smuggle you into a dorm room to talk to another boy, beautiful? I'd much rather smuggle you into mine."

Scorpius took a deep nervous breath. This had all seemed so much easier when he'd worked it out in his head. He'd decided that Fabian was good-looking and fun to be with and it really wouldn't be so terrible to go on a date with him, but now that he was actually doing this he wondered how Fabian was going to react.

"Well, it's Monday," he finally said, feeling his cheeks heat again.

"Ah, so you're saying if I ask you the usual question, you'll say yes?" Fabian asked, his expression thoughtful.

Scorpius nodded anxiously. He couldn't read the look on Fabian's face but he rather thought it was the most serious he'd ever seen him.

Then he suddenly laughed.

"Oooh, how delightfully Slytherin of you," he said. "I like it and I accept your offer. But in the Slytherin spirit I should tell you that getting Creevey out of the way is going to cost you extra."

"Another date?" Scorpius asked doubtfully.

"Uh, uh," Fabian said, grinning widely. "A kiss. And I'm not talking some little peck on the cheek type of kiss. I want a proper good night kiss, a real end of date snog."

Scorpius froze and stared at Fabian in consternation. He had always secretly dreamed that his first kiss would come from Albus Potter but he knew now that it was never going to happen that way. He'd already decided that it wouldn't be a hardship to have his first date with Fabian and as he looked into his clear, blue eyes he decided that it wouldn't be that hard to have his first kiss with him either.

Slowly he nodded his head, his heart beating rapidly.

"Deal?" Fabian asked, holding out his hand.

Scorpius took it and shook it. "Deal," he said firmly.

* * *

That evening, after dinner, he met Fabian near the entrance to the Gryffindor Tower.

"Ready?" Fabian asked, and Scorpius nodded.

"All right," said Fabian. "Now, Crimshaw is in the common room and as soon as you're in the dorm I'll think of a way to send him up." He smiled at Scorpius' gasp of surprise. "Yeah, I figured it was Crimshaw you wanted to talk to."

"What about Creevey?" Scorpius asked.

"Oh, I've already taken care of him," Fabian said. "That was easy."

"What did you do?"

"Used the Full Body-Bind on him and stuffed him into a cupboard on the 4th floor," Fabian said, calmly. "He's been sulking because James kicked him off the Quidditch team because he reckons his appearance is too distracting for the other players. Creevey's in such a funk that he didn't know what hit him. I'll let him out later. Shame he'll never know it was me, I've been wanting to do that to him for ages."

Scorpius blinked, but before he could say anything Fabian had lead him over to the Fat Lady portrait.

"Put your hood up," Fabian said. "Now, James set the password this week. I think you'll like it."

Scorpius drew his hood up, and then muffled a laugh when Fabian said ' _Freaky Fungi_ ' to the Fat Lady. The portrait swung open and they entered the common room, Fabian slipping his arm around Scorpius' waist and holding him close to his side.

Scorpius held his breath but the common room was quiet and no one seemed to notice them. He walked up the stairs with Fabian and then they stopped in front of a sturdy wooden door.

"Well, here it is," Fabian said. "Do you need me to get you out when you're ready to leave?"

Scorpius shook his head. "No, I was just worried about Simon avoiding me if he knew I was here. Once I've talked to him, it doesn't matter if anyone sees me."

"All right," Fabian said, and he winked. "I'm looking forward to Saturday."

Scorpius blushed but thankfully Fabian was already moving down the stairs so he didn't see it.

Scorpius pushed open the door, looking around the room curiously as he settled in one of the comfortable armchairs. A few minutes later the door opened and Simon Crimshaw walked in, stopping dead in the middle of the room the moment he spotted Scorpius.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Malfoy?"

"I wanted to talk to you," Scorpius said, calmly, even though his heart was thudding in his chest. He didn't for one moment think that Simon would be violent like Creevey, but it was still a risk confronting him.

"We have nothing to talk about," Simon replied.

"I think we do. You lied to Albus and we both know it."

Simon scowled and stepped closer. Scorpius tensed, but then sighed in relief when Simon sat on one of the beds.

"Do you really think you can get away with that?" Scorpius asked, his voice serious.

"Don't think that you can steal my boyfriend from me, Malfoy."

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Even if I was going to do that," he said. "I wouldn't have to Crimshaw. The relationship you had with him is already over. It was over the minute you lied to him. You betrayed that prefect's badge on your chest and you betrayed your relationship with Al by lying to him. The best you can hope for now is that he loves you enough to forgive you for it. But either way, you owe him the truth."

Simon looked stunned and he suddenly took a loud, gasping breath. "Shut up, Malfoy," he said, but it sounded weak, and Scorpius smiled.

"Fine," he said, standing up. "I've only said what you already knew, but I'll add this. You don't deserve to be a prefect, Simon, and you don't deserve Al either."

He took one last look at Simon's pale face and then he quietly left the room.


	14. Chapter 14

It had been a strange week for Albus Potter, full of highs and lows. On the one hand there had been the adrenaline rush and the sheer enjoyment of everything they had done to Martin Creevey and on the other had been his confusion about Simon and the growing feeling that he was going to have to give up on something that only a few months ago he could not have imagined losing.

Aside from anything to do with Scorpius it seemed that his relationship with Simon had finally died sometime in the last couple of weeks. Even when Simon had surprised Albus with a New Year's kiss, Albus had known a moment of wanting to pull away and since then he'd found himself reluctant to display any physical affection towards his boyfriend. It was confusing and depressing and a part of Albus was hoping that his feelings for Simon would return. He really didn't want to hurt him.

And of course, there was also the problem of Scorpius and then, once again, Albus had come close to kissing the other boy when they had been alone together in the alcove. And the fact that it had been Simon who had interrupted them, and the knowledge that all Albus had felt about it at that moment was extreme annoyance that Simon had turned up, had finally made him realise exactly what he was going to have to do, and that it wasn't fair to anyone to put it off any longer.

Albus didn't know what might happen with Scorpius - he was reluctant to launch straight into another relationship - but it was definitely time to end the relationship with Simon, and the part of him that had hoped his feelings would return now grieved for what it had lost.

Albus leaned against the wall and sighed as he waited for James and Rose to join him in a small room just near the Slytherin dungeons. He distracted himself by casting the Muffliato charm, for this was a conversation that he definitely didn't want anyone overhearing.

"Hey, Al."

Albus looked up with relief as Rose wandered into the room followed, a few seconds later, by James.

"Can we make this quick?" Rose continued. "I want to meet up with Michael soon."

Behind her James rolled his eyes and Albus smiled.

"So, what's next for Creevey?" James asked.

"I think we might have come to the end of what we can get away with," Albus said thoughtfully, and then smiled again when Rose groaned.

"No," she said. "I've been having so much fun. I want to see how bad we can really make him look."

"Rose," James said. "I think Al's right. Somebody put a body bind on Creevey yesterday and put him in a cupboard and it wasn't one of us. If other people start having a go at Creevey just for the fun of it then this whole thing could really get out of hand and it could get traced back to us. Besides, I think Creevey's ready for the final stage," he added, nodding at Albus. "So, what do you want me to do and when?"

"Tomorrow, after final classes. We've got double Potions together after lunch. Rose, you delay him a bit after class. James, you have the cloak and herd him up to the Charms corridor on the 3rd floor. I'll follow you up there as if I'm concerned about him and get him into one of the classrooms. Then I'll take care of it."

"So, that's it?" Rose asked with a sigh.

"Yes, Rose, that's it," Albus said. "You know I'm beginning to get worried about you. Talk about bloodthirsty."

Rose stuck her nose in the air. "Well, he hurt one of my best friends," she said haughtily, and then ruined the effect by grinning. "Besides, it was bloody good transfiguration practice. I'm just annoyed that no one will ever know it was me that created that marvellous charm. I really should get credit for it you know."

"Write a book about it one day," Albus said, kissing her on the cheek. "You know we couldn't have done this without you. Now, go and see Michael."

Rose laughed and left the room, and Albus was just about to follow her when James took his arm and pulled him back.

"What's up?" Albus asked.

"I was going to ask you that," James said, his eyes serious, and Albus froze for a moment. Very occasionally James could be inconveniently perceptive and Albus' heart sank as he realised that this was one of those times.

"I'm fine," Albus said shortly, but James wasn't going to be deterred.

"No you're not," he said. "I know something's wrong with you and Simon, and I thought you might like to talk about it. You know I had that break-up with Kirsty early last year and, I admit it, I was a mess, and I really regret that I didn't talk about it with anyone. Well, not until Dad locked me in his study and made me, anyway. But my point is, it really did help, and now that I'm with Jane, when I have a problem I'm better at talking about it."

"Fine," Albus said with a sigh. The truth was that once he would never have dreamt of talking to James, but his brother had changed a lot in the last year, and maybe it would be a good idea to clear his head by talking.

"So, you and Simon?" James prompted, his eyes full of curiosity.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but I think it's over," Albus said and James whistled.

"And how does Simon feel about that?" James asked.

"I haven't really talked to him yet," Albus said. "At Christmas we sort of took a bit of a break," he looked up as James nodded. "Yeah, I thought you'd figured that out. We haven't really talked about things since then, but I know I'm acting differently and he's nervous, and wary. But, of course, that might be because…"

Albus paused for a moment of thought and then told his brother about what Scorpius had told him about Simon and Creevey.

"That's why I didn't want Simon involved," he finished, as James frowned. "I thought I didn't want to compromise him, but I think a part of me just doesn't trust him with this. He's a bit… irrational… about Scorpius."

"Yeah," James said. "He knows that Scorpius fancies you."

"Merlin, does _everyone_ know about that?"

"Hmmm, only Peony," James said thoughtfully, ignoring Albus' angry glare. "Me. And I think maybe Fabian. I'm not sure about him though."

Albus valiantly squashed his immediate instinct to interrogate James about what Fabian might have said about Scorpius, and he sighed instead.

"I'm attracted to him," he said flatly.

" _Fabian?_ " James asked, his voice full of laughter, and Albus smacked him on the arm.

"Sorry, couldn't resist," James said, and then his eyes went serious. "You haven't… um… cheated on Simon have you?"

Albus shook his head. "But it's been close a couple of times," he admitted, his face flushing. "It's not Scorpius," he said quickly as James raised an eyebrow. "It's me. I don't think Scorpius has even realised, actually. But I can't get him out of my head."

"Look, Al," James said. "It's a really flattering thing when you realise that someone has a crush on you. And maybe that's why you're so interested in Scorpius now. And maybe that's why you're feeling this way about Simon."

"I thought it might be that," Albus said. "I was worried it might be that. But I've thought about it, James, and I was starting to feel differently about Simon before I knew about Scorpius. He showed a side of himself that I'd never seen before, and yes, the situation with Scorpius aggravated it, but it was already there. When I said he's irrational about Scorpius I didn't just mean because of me, it's also because Scorpius is a Malfoy."

"Oh," James sighed. "He's one of _those_ idiots."

"Yeah," Albus agreed. "And nothing I could say would change that idea in him, and once the irritation set in me, I just couldn't seem to shake it. As for Scorpius, I've always thought he was, well... gorgeous really, even if he didn't seem like my type. And then the more I got to know him the better I liked him. I think it could grow into more than just attraction."

"So, you're going to dump Simon and go off with Scorpius, are you?" James asked, with a sly smile. "Doesn't seem like you, Al."

For a moment Albus was so shocked that he couldn't speak. His brother could certainly be blunt but Albus saw the smile on his face, and he knew that James wasn't trying to make him angry. He was trying to help Albus think about the future more clearly.

"You're cleverer than you look," he said, and James laughed.

"I didn't become head boy just from my good looks, you know," he said.

"You're right, of course," Albus said, ignoring the opportunity to tease his brother. "I can't do that to either of them. I know I have to end things with Simon, but I need some time after that. Alone."

"Well, that's good," James said. "Because I think I should tell you something. Fabian told me that Scorpius has agreed to go out with him. On a date."

Albus' heart dropped like lead and he froze. James was watching for his reaction, he knew it, and he struggled for a moment to decide exactly what that was. Shock, he knew, and a sort of angry disbelief because why was Scorpius doing this when he liked Albus? Of course, he immediately knew that he had no right to feel like that, and he remembered the disappointment that he'd heard in Scorpius' voice when he'd said that Albus loved Simon, realised that Scorpius was obviously trying to move on, and for a split second he was ready to storm into the dorm room and make Scorpius change his mind… and then he felt James' hand on his arm.

"So, maybe you feel more for him than you thought," James said, quietly.

Albus took a deep breath. "Maybe," he said. "But it doesn't change anything," he added regretfully.

"Bad timing," James agreed. "Sorry."

"I can handle it," Albus said, but then he looked at his brother intently. "But I'm telling you this, James, even if Fabian is your friend. I'll do worse to him than I've done to Creevey, if he treats Scorpius badly."

"Hey, settle down," James said, smiling. "Fabian got the worse end of the story in that business with Henry and Patrick last year, and he never bothered to correct it. Scorpius will be fine."

"Well, good," Albus said, not sure whether he was relieved or more irritated by the information.

James looked at his watch. "I'd better get going," he said, and he looked at Albus with concern. "You all right?"

"Yes," Albus said, giving James a quick hug. Aside from the unfortunate news about Scorpius, their talk really had helped to clear his head, and he was grateful. "Thanks, James."

They parted in the hallway and then Albus went into the common room. Immediately he saw Scorpius, sitting with Peony and Adrian, and when Adrian waved him over, Albus shook his head, faked a yawn and went up to the dorm. There was no way he was ready to be close to Scorpius just yet.

And besides, he had a lot to think about. Not only did he have to work out what he was going to say to Simon but he also had to be clear about exactly what was going to happen the next day with Martin Creevey.

* * *

Their plan worked so well that a very short time after their final class had ended the next day Albus found himself taking Martin Creevey's arm and leading him into an empty charms classroom.

He quickly cast Muffliato and then examined the extraordinary sight standing before him.

Martin Creevey was barely recognisable, for as well as his unfortunate appearance he'd also lost the confident swagger that he'd always had. Albus preferred him without it.

Albus took a deep breath and forced a gentle tone into his voice. "I'm worried about you Martin."

Creevey didn't reply, he simply shrugged his shoulders and then slumped against a desk.

"So, I've decided to tell you something," Albus continued, lowering his voice to a confidential whisper. "But if I do, you have to swear never to repeat it. I'm risking my role as a prefect by telling you this."

Creevey looked up, his eyes full of curiosity but also wary suspicion. "So, why tell me then?"

"Because I'm getting sick of looking at you in this frightful state," Albus couldn't resist sniping. "And if I don't tell you how to fix it, it will only get worse."

" _Worse?_ " Creevey shrieked, and Albus winced. "No. You have to tell me."

"I will, but you have to swear."

"I swear, I swear."

Creevey was nodding franticly, and Albus smiled a little and then pushed him into a chair.

"Right," he said. "Now, when someone becomes a prefect, they are told a little secret about Hogwarts that they're not supposed to talk about. Except under the most dire circumstances," Albus eyed Martin Creevey and shook his head. "You're looking fairly dire so I think maybe I should tell you."

"What is it?" Creevey breathed, and Albus knew he was hooked.

"Well, when a student does something bad and they get away with it, sometimes the castle itself decides to get involved. You see if the castle thinks that what the student did should be punished, it will take care of the punishment itself."

Martin Creevey stared at Albus with his mouth gaping open in shock.

"You mean, the _castle_ is doing all this stuff to me?"

Albus narrowed his eyes. "If you've done something bad, Creevey. Have you done something that you shouldn't have? Something the castle wouldn't like?"

Creevey suddenly stood up and paced around the room and Albus held his breath, hoping that the confession he wanted was about to come.

"This is insane, Potter," Creevey eventually said, and Albus sighed with disappointment. "You can't expect me to believe this story."

Albus shrugged. "I don't really care whether you believe it or not, after all, you're the one who looks like something out of a second-rate freak show in Knockturn Alley," he held up a hand as Creevey gave him an angry look. "I'm telling you what I know."

"Why didn't Simon tell me about this then?" Creevey demanded. "He's supposed to be my bloody friend."

"We can't tell anyone in our own house," Albus said quickly. "Look, do you want to know how to get it to stop or not? I've got other things to do, you know."

Creevey suddenly looked a bit panicked, just as Albus had hoped he would, for he knew that the only way this was really going to work was if Creevey didn't have too much time to think. Although, fortunately Creevey seemed fairly stupid, something that Albus had never really had the chance to notice before.

"What do I have to do?"

"Well, a confession would help," Albus said, and waited, watching as Creevey paced the room again.

"Fuck it," Creevey finally said, rounding on Albus. "I'm not confessing to anything. If this stupid pile of rubble wants to punish me for something then it can. I don't care."

Albus stifled a sigh of angry resignation. He could hear the fear underneath the defiance in Creevey's voice but obviously the fear of expulsion was stronger than his fear of what else might happen to him. Their main plan had failed and they weren't going to get a confession so Albus quickly settled for the back-up plan – to at least make sure that Creevey never touched Scorpius again.

"There is an alternative," he said calmly, and Creevey looked at him with hope in his eyes.

"What?"

"You can swear to someone of authority that you won't repeat whatever it was that caused the castle's ire. It can be a teacher or a prefect."

"That would work?" Creevey asked, looking around anxiously at the walls surrounding them and Albus suppressed the desire to laugh. "I mean, the castle would accept that?"

"So I was told," Albus said.

"All right, I swear," Creevey said, quickly. "I won't do it again… um… the thing I did that annoyed the castle."

"Fine," Albus said. "But remember this, if you break that oath, the castle will do things to you that will make this last week look like a picnic. Understand?"

"I understand," Creevey said, after taking a deep breath.

"Right, I'm off then," Albus said, heading for the door. He really wanted to get away from Creevey before the anger that had been simmering away inside him boiled over.

"Wait," Creevey said, and Albus paused in the doorway with a long-suffering sigh, and then turned and looked at Creevey expectantly.

"Thanks Al," Creevey said, and Albus nodded. "But… um… I was sort of hoping," and he pointed at the toadstool beside his head. "I was sort of hoping that all this might disappear."

"I think you'll find," Albus replied, "that you'll have to wait for it to go naturally. But at least nothing else will happen to you now."

Creevey nodded, and Albus left the room.

* * *

"He's fairly stupid, isn't he?"

James suddenly appeared beside him and Albus started and then swore quietly under his breath.

"You're the one who had him on your Quidditch team," he said, thumping James on the arm.

"Well, he's not stupid at Quidditch," James replied. "But there was a moment there where I almost laughed and gave myself away."

"Me too," Albus said. "Unfortunately he wasn't stupid enough to actually confess."

"That depends on how you look at it."

They reached the Grand Staircase and paused for a moment on the landing.

"Well, that was a fun week," James said, grinning. "I'll go and let Rose know how things turned out. What are you up to?"

"Make sure she takes that charm of hers off Creevey tonight," Albus said, glancing at his pocket watch. "I'm late for Quidditch practice, but they'll have started without me. By the way, who did you get to replace Creevey?"

James laughed and Albus raised an eyebrow. "That bad, huh?"

"Oh no," James said. "I got permission to use Hugo. He's only a first year but you know they broke that rule for Dad, and when I reminded them of that, I got my way."

"Bugger," Albus muttered, as James waved and wandered off to the Gryffindor Tower.

* * *

After Quidditch practice Albus had hoped to let Scorpius know that things were settled with Creevey, but dinner had already started when they got back from the pitch.

"Hi, Scorp," he said, as he sat down beside him at the Slytherin table. "I've got some good news for you."

"What?" Scorpius asked, looking curious.

Albus glanced around the table. "I'll tell you after dinner."

"Hey, you two," Peony interrupted them, turning from her conversation with Adrian. "Apparently there's a new café opened up in Hogsmeade. Shall we all try it this weekend?"

"Oh, um, I can't," Scorpius said quietly, and Albus could see that he was starting to blush.

"Why not?" Peony asked, frowning. "Merlin, you are not staying here and studying, Scorpius. I won't have it."

"No, it's not that," Scorpius almost whispered. "I'm already going with someone else."

"What? With who?"

The excitement in Peony's voice was huge and it made Albus wince.

Scorpius looked around nervously and Albus had to admit that he would have found his shyness about the whole thing adorable if he hadn't already known whom Scorpius was going to Hogsmeade with. Or if Scorpius had been going with Albus.

"Oh, I know," Peony said. "It's Fabian, isn't it? Oh my goodness, you're finally going out with him."

Scorpius nodded, Peony grinned, and Albus decided he felt a bit sick. Then he looked up and saw Simon sitting at the Gryffindor table, eating quietly, and that was it, he had to get out of there.

"I'll talk to you in the common room later," he said to Scorpius, and then before anyone could say anything, he quickly got up and left the Hall.

* * *

"Don't mess this up for him, Potter."

Albus, who had been sprawling on a couch and staring thoughtlessly into the fire, jerked upright and stared at Peony as she took the seat beside him. He looked around the room, relieved to see that Scorpius wasn't there yet.

"He'll be here in a minute," Peony said. "And I meant what I said. You have a boyfriend, Al, and Scorpius is finally trying to move on. You know what I'm talking about."

"You don't know everything, Peony," Al said, glaring at her resentfully.

"I know enough," she replied. "So, you think Scorpius is pretty cute and you know that he fancies you. Doesn't change the fact that you have Simon and whatever's going on between you two needs to be sorted out, without involving Scorpius."

"I really don't need you to lecture me, Zabini," Albus whispered furiously. "I already know all this, so back off, all right."

"Fine, I will," Peony whispered back. "But Scorpius has had a tough few months and if he's finally ready to have a little fun with someone, don't mess it up for him just because you're feeling a little jealous, Al."

Albus almost got up and walked away, but he looked into Peony's eyes, saw the worry in them, and he knew that she was only doing this because she really cared about Scorpius. And he couldn't fault her for that.

"I won't," he finally said, and she smiled at him, a bit wistfully he thought.

"Thanks, Al," she said. "I really like you and I'd hate to have to hex you."

"Why would you do that?"

They both looked up to see Scorpius standing in front of them, and after a moment of startled silence, Peony laughed and got up.

"Al's been teasing me about my knitting," she said. "I'm off to my dorm. See you later."

"Bloody knitting," Scorpius muttered as he sat down beside Albus. "She uses that as an excuse all the time. Here," he handed Albus a sandwich, "you must be hungry."

"Thanks," Albus said gratefully, because he _was_ hungry and he'd been planning on sneaking to the kitchens later on.

"So, what did you want to tell me?"

"Oh," Albus said. "Well, Creevey's sorted out. He won't bother you again."

Scorpius frowned. "Really. Just like that?"

"Believe me," Albus said, grinning. "It wasn't just like that. But he won't do anything, I promise you. He's made an oath on it."

"So, are you finally going to tell me how you did all this?"

Albus glanced over and found himself caught in Scorpius' clear, grey eyes and swallowed heavily.

"Not right now," he said, shifting uncomfortably on the couch. "I'm… ah, fairly tired." He made a movement to get up but Scorpius' hand on his arm halted him.

"Al, wait a moment," Scorpius said softly. "I wanted to say thank you. I'm sorry you had to do all this. And about what happened with Simon."

Albus shook his head quickly. "Don't be, Scorp," he said. "You really don't have anything to be sorry about. Especially about Simon."

They stared at each other for a moment and the temptation was there again, the temptation to move closer to Scorpius, to hold him and finally find out if his lips were as soft as they looked, but Albus steadfastly resisted it and then quickly stood.

"Hey, and have a good time on the weekend, yeah," he said to Scorpius. "Forget about all this and enjoy yourself. I'll see you later."

Scorpius smiled, and Albus smiled back, and then he walked away.

* * *

The next couple of days were borderline hell for Albus as Simon seemed to avoid him, and Albus avoided Scorpius. Many times he wondered how he'd suddenly got himself into such a mess and, even worse, how he was going to get out of it.

And he wasn't looking forward to Saturday at all, for he and Simon were supposed to join the others and go to Hogsmeade, and the thought of being with Simon when he still hadn't managed to talk to him, and also the thought of seeing Scorpius in Hogsmeade with Fabian, made Albus want to bury his head under his pillow and stay in bed for the entire weekend.

Finally on Saturday morning, before breakfast, Albus decided that enough was enough, so he waited in the Great Hall for Simon to show up. When Simon finally appeared, he paused for a moment on the stairs, gazing at Albus, and then he continued down until he was standing in front of him.

Albus took a deep breath, and Simon held up a hand.

"Yeah, I know," Simon said. "We need to talk. I think we should skip going to Hogsmeade, because there's something I really need to tell you. Meet you in our classroom, after breakfast?"

Albus nodded, letting out his breath in a sigh of relief.

* * *

Simon was already waiting for him when Albus walked into their classroom, and he looked so pale and nervous that Albus wondered if he'd guessed what Albus wanted to say.

"Hi," Albus said, his own nerves rising as Simon looked up with an anxious expression. "So, there was something I wanted to talk to you about as well."

Simon cleared his throat. "Do you mind if I go first?" he asked. "It's just that I've made an appointment with Professor Sprout in an hour's time and I need you to know what I'm about to do."

Something in Albus' stomach twisted and he felt a little sick for suddenly he knew exactly what Simon was about to say.

"What Scorpius said was the truth, wasn't it?"

There was a moment of tense silence, and then Simon nodded.

"Yes," he said, in a faint voice. "I'm going to tell Professor Sprout what happened and hand in my prefect's badge. I imagine that Martin will be expelled and I hope that I'll only be suspended. I'm sorry that I lied to you."

Albus had been struggling, through his rising anger, to find enough breath to actually speak, but finally he took a deep breath and willed himself to stay calm.

"How the _fuck_ could you do that Simon?"

He could tell from Simon's wince that he hadn't managed to keep all the fury he felt out of his voice, but it was the best he could do.

"I don't know," Simon said, wringing his hands nervously. "When you told me what Scorpius had said I just panicked."

"Oh for fuck's sake, not that," Albus almost yelled. "How could you walk away like that and leave Scorpius with Creevey? You should have seen the bruises on him, how could you let that happen? You're a prefect, Simon, you are supposed to stop that sort of thing, regardless of how you feel about the people involved, but even if you weren't a prefect you still should have stopped it."

"I know," Simon said, his voice low and quiet, and something in it made Albus' anger subside until all he felt was bitter disappointment.

"I just can't believe that you would do something like that," Albus finally said. "I thought I knew you."

"I can't believe I did it either," Simon said. "But at that moment… I was just so sick of Scorpius… and, oh, I don't know-" He broke off and ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

"You were jealous," Albus said.

Simon nodded. "Yes. We both know that Scorpius fancies you. And that annoyed me, but I didn't really panic until I saw the way you were starting to look at him."

"Simon, I…" Albus paused for a moment, struggling with a mixture of anger and guilt. "I'm sorry for that because I never wanted to hurt you, but you cannot use that as an excuse for what you did. You could have trusted _me_ , Simon, you could have trusted that as soon as I needed to talk to you about that, I would, and I was about to do exactly that. And you could have talked to me; you could have been honest with me about this. But instead, you took it out on Scorpius, and I have to tell you, Simon, that Scorpius never did anything to deserve that. He never made any kind of move."

"But aside from all that," he continued. "You allowed your feelings to put Scorpius at risk and then you lied about it, and it's worse because you're a prefect and that's a position of trust. So, I'm sorry, Simon, with the way thing's have turned out, but you can't use it as an excuse for this."

As he'd talked Simon had slowly moved closer until he was standing right in front of Albus, gazing into his face, and Albus could see the tears rising in his eyes. Those warm, brown eyes that Albus had once loved and his heart clenched in sudden pain.

"You were going to break up with me today, weren't you, Al?" Simon asked softly.

Unable to speak through the sudden tightness in his throat and tears starting to gather in his own eyes, Albus simply nodded.

"Well," Simon breathed.

"I'm sorry," Albus finally managed to say. "It's not all about Scorpius, I want you to understand that. I've just changed."

"Yeah," Simon said. "You know, I had this stupid idea that with Scorpius finally going out with Fabian, that all I had to do was confess and clear the air with you, and this whole sodding nightmare would be over. And I'd no longer feel all of this bloody guilt and anger at myself."

"I know that you're really a good person, Simon," Albus said. "We were together for two years, I know that whatever you've done lately, deep down, you're a good person and that you'll fix it now."

He smiled and wiped his eyes and watched as Simon did the same.

"All right," Simon said, after taking a deep breath. "I have to go. You should stick around the castle, Al, because they'll probably want you to tell them about the bruises you saw."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

Simon had already started for the door, but he paused for a moment and then looked back over his shoulder at Albus.

"Thanks," he said. "But no. I really need to do this alone."

Albus nodded and then Simon was gone.


	15. Chapter 15

Scorpius woke on Saturday morning, stretched luxuriously, promptly remembered that today was his date with Fabian, and grimaced as his stomach immediately filled with what felt like a hundred fluttering butterflies.

He'd already been nervous about it the day before and his tension hadn't been eased by running into Martin Creevey in an empty corridor that evening. It had been the moment of truth, the moment when he would find out if Albus had been right about Creevey's oath not to touch Scorpius anymore, and he'd almost felt sick with a mixture of anger and resentment.

Creevey had paused for a moment, and then slowly walked towards Scorpius, his eyes lowered and it was that sight that had made Scorpius' confidence rise. As Creevey had gotten closer, Scorpius' eyes had widened, for up close he'd truly been a sight to behold. True, he'd no longer been wearing a skirt, and his hair was no longer purple, but there'd still been orange marks on his skin, and the toadstool in his ear was starting to wither. Scorpius' nose had wrinkled as Creevey went by him, for the rotting toadstool had not smelled pleasant.

"Aren't you going to ask me if I've missed you?"

Scorpius had felt as shocked as Creevey had looked for he couldn't believe the words had come out of his own mouth. He'd stared at Creevey for a moment, allowing the simmering resentment he always felt around Creevey to show, and waited. But Creevey had merely blinked and then actually _scurried_ _away_.

Scorpius still didn't know what to think of that but he couldn't help feeling relieved, and grateful to Albus, James and Rose. All in all, he supposed, it had all turned out fairly well - except for Simon. Simon had kept away from Scorpius since their chat in the Gryffindor dorm room, and as far as Scorpius could tell, he hadn't let what Scorpius had said to him affect his relationship with Albus. Still he'd done what he could, Scorpius thought with a sigh, and he felt good about the fact that he'd let Simon know exactly what he thought of him.

Scorpius rolled out of bed and headed for the dorm bathroom. Thankfully it was empty, for whilst the bruises from Creevey's final attack were now faint and not at all painful, Scorpius still didn't want anyone else to see them.

Breakfast was strange. Albus was very quiet and withdrawn, and Peony kept giggling at Scorpius in a way that made him long to hex her, and she was only distracted when Adrian and Michael had one of their rare but explosive arguments. Eventually it was settled, but Scorpius wondered if he was the only one to notice that Albus had sat silently throughout the whole thing, almost as if he hadn't noticed what was going on.

Scorpius almost asked him what was wrong, but in the end he decided that he really had to stop worrying about Albus so much. After all, he was about to go on his first ever date with another boy, and as that thought made the butterflies attack his stomach again, Scorpius felt that he already had enough to focus on.

* * *

After breakfast Scorpius went down to the entrance courtyard and found Fabian already waiting for him, and he approached him shyly.

"Hello, beautiful," Fabian said, cheerfully. "Let's get going."

Scorpius smiled as Fabian took his hand. They set off on the path to Hogsmeade and Scorpius was thankful that not many of the other students were about yet.

"So, where exactly are we going?" Scorpius asked, after clearing his throat nervously, and Fabian glanced at him.

"Oh, the usual places," he said, smiling. "Then I thought we'd have lunch at that new place."

"Um… won't that be really busy?" Scorpius asked. "I think nearly everyone is talking about going there."

"Ah, you see, that's why I reserved," Fabian replied, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not just stunningly good-looking, you know, I have brains as well," and he grinned when Scorpius laughed. "And later, we'll have tea," he continued, "at Madam Puddifoot's. Because you have to experience that horrendous dating tradition at least once in your life, and if this is the only time I get to go out with you I want to make sure the deal is worth it."

Fabian was laughing, but Scorpius frowned, and he tugged on Fabian's hand, halting him.

"Fabian," he said, looking up at the other boy earnestly. "I want you to know that I was going to say yes this time anyway. I don't want you to think that I'm here just because of the deal we had."

Fabian's face was unreadable for a moment and then he glanced around them, took Scorpius' hand and pulled him around a hedge and under a large-canopied tree. When he looked at Scorpius again his blue eyes seemed to twinkle with amusement in a way that made Scorpius feel a little uncomfortable.

"You know," he said, "you really are very sweet."

And Scorpius felt his whole face burn with embarrassment but he couldn't help feeling a little affronted as well.

"Really," he said flatly, not making any effort to hide his annoyance, for never in his life had he wanted to be called _sweet_ by another boy.

"Ah, but you're gorgeous as well," Fabian said, reaching out and laying a hand on Scorpius' waist. Scorpius tried to take a step away but he was backed against the tree and there was nowhere to go so he glared at Fabian resentfully.

"Now, don't be angry," Fabian continued, bending his head down to Scorpius' ear and brushing his lips against it, and Scorpius couldn't stop the sudden shiver that went through his body.

"Perhaps it will make you feel better," Fabian whispered. "If I tell you that you also have the most perfect arse I've ever seen."

Scorpius gasped and his face was now so hot that he felt as if his skin might burst into flames. There was also a strange feeling in his stomach and he swallowed heavily as Fabian's lips drifted across his cheek.

"I've been wanting to tell you that for ages," he said, his mouth back at Scorpius' ear, and Scorpius felt Fabian's arms slide around his waist, pulling him closer. He wondered for a moment at how quickly this had happened, he hadn't expected to find himself in this sort of situation so soon, and the butterflies were running havoc in his stomach again. But as Fabian's lips brushed over his cheek once more, a delightful tremor went through Scorpius, and he lifted his hands and placed them on Fabian's shoulders, his fingers curling into Fabian's coat.

A moment later, Fabian's lips were suddenly on his, and Scorpius startled at the strange sensation, and then relaxed. Fabian's mouth was soft and moved gently against Scorpius' lips and Scorpius' eyes drifted shut as he let the feeling of it wash over him.

It was different from what he had thought it would be like, but also much better, and as Fabian's lips pressed against his more firmly, Scorpius felt it right down to his toes. He wanted more and he pressed closer to Fabian trying to get it and when Fabian parted his lips, Scorpius did the same, and for a second he felt the barest hint of Fabian's tongue against his. The delightful shiver went through his body again and he gasped, and then with a final gentle caress on his mouth, Fabian pulled away.

Scorpius opened his eyes and stared at Fabian, feeling rather breathless. He'd had his first kiss. It hadn't been with Albus but he couldn't regret that it had been with Fabian.

Fabian was actually looking slightly nervous, which made Scorpius feel a little more sure of himself, and he smiled.

"I thought that was supposed to happen at the end of the date, not the start," he said, and Fabian laughed.

"I'm starting a new dating tradition," he said. "I have a feeling it will take on, don't you?"

Scorpius nodded, and then Fabian took his hand, and they walked back to the path to Hogsmeade.

* * *

A few hours later, they were returning to Hogwarts, walking hand-in-hand, and Scorpius reflected that it had been a fun day and he'd truly enjoyed himself. At first they had wandered around the shops for a while and Scorpius had been relieved that they only ran into Peony, Adrian, Rose and Michael once, for once was enough when Peony still seemed inclined to giggle at him. Scorpius couldn't help noticing that Albus and Simon weren't with them, and for a moment he had wondered where they could be, before he'd firmly put them out of his mind.

Then they had gone to the new café in Hogsmeade, a French style bistro called _'The Flambéed Flobberworm'_ , where they'd had a delicious lunch, although neither of them had tried the Flobberworm. Finding himself alone with Fabian, with no distractions, Scorpius had at first been tongue-tied but he'd eventually relaxed, for Fabian was easy to talk to.

Fabian had told him that he'd already been accepted into post-N.E.W.T.s study at the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts and Scorpius had even talked a little about his own future plans. He had always thought that he would follow the family tradition of travelling for a year and then going to work at the Ministry. Of course, the Malfoy's didn't get the cushy jobs at the Ministry that they once had, but Scorpius had known that his father would expect him to attempt to regain the Malfoy family's standing in the wizarding community, and for the first time Scorpius realised that he wouldn't actually have to try to fulfil that daunting expectation. He'd found himself confessing to Fabian that what he really wanted to do was experimental potions research at St. Mungo's and Fabian had been very encouraging about the idea.

After lunch they had walked around Hogsmeade for a while, still talking, and then they had gone to Madam Puddifoot's for tea. Scorpius had always avoided the place before and he found that what he'd heard about it didn't really do it justice so he'd been in a state of stunned amazement for a while, which had made Fabian's eyes twinkle, and when Scorpius, in a shocked voice, had eventually described the decorations as appalling, Fabian had laughed so hard that he'd spilled tea all over the table.

And now, in the chilly air of a snowy evening, they were walking back to Hogwarts and Scorpius couldn't ignore the knot of anticipation that was twisting in his stomach. Fabian hadn't tried to kiss him again since that morning and Scorpius wondered if perhaps he'd decided that he didn't want to kiss him any more. It was a disappointing thought, for Scorpius had to admit that he'd enjoyed that earlier kiss, and he definitely wouldn't have minded trying it again.

But when they got back to the entrance courtyard, Fabian pulled Scorpius into a sheltering alcove and smiled down at him, and Scorpius' heart leapt in excitement.

"So, I think I'd like to claim that good night kiss now," Fabian said in a low voice that made Scorpius' breath hitch and all he could do was nod.

Then Fabian's lips were on his again and it was even better than before. The kiss was gentle for a few moments, but then Fabian's teeth caught Scorpius' bottom lip and a tremor of _something_ went through Scorpius, making him gasp, and suddenly their tongues were sliding together. And Merlin, it was amazing, Scorpius thought in a daze, and he could now understand why everyone else spent so much time doing this. He slid his hands around Fabian's shoulders, his fingers tangling in Fabian's hair, and then gasped again when Fabian pulled him closer.

His hands clenched in Fabian's hair and he heard a soft moan and some sort of thrill went through him when he realised it was Fabian who'd made that hungry sound. Fabian was pressing him against the stone wall now, and when Scorpius felt a firm hand slide up under his coat and around the back of his thigh, a wave of dizziness swept over him and he tore his mouth away from Fabian's, struggling for breath.

"Wow," he whispered, and then flushed with embarrassment when he heard Fabian's soft laugh and realised that he'd heard it.

"I told you I was good at it," Fabian said, winking at Scorpius. Scorpius blinked, and then almost laughed, surprised at the sudden rush of fond amusement he felt.

"Well, I wouldn't know," Scorpius said, trying and failing to keep the teasing smile off his face. "I've never kissed anyone else, you see, so I'm not a good judge."

For a moment Fabian looked surprised but then he smiled and the hand that was still resting on the back of Scorpius' thigh tightened.

"Why, you wicked little Slytherin," he whispered into Scorpius' ear, making him shiver. "I'll have to make you pay for that."

Their mouths met again and this time it was Scorpius who moaned, his fingers curling into Fabian's coat. A long moment went by where Scorpius noticed nothing except the hot press of Fabian's tongue in his mouth, the tight arm around his waist, and the firm pressure of the hand on his leg pulling him closer to Fabian's body.

Then he heard someone saying his name and realised that it couldn't be Fabian.

"Scorpius, I'm really sorry about this," said the soft voice, and Scorpius pulled away from Fabian and turned his head to find Rose standing nearby looking acutely embarrassed, and for a moment he really wanted to hex her.

Then a jolt of shock went through him when he saw that Albus was standing a short distance behind her, steadfastly studying the trunk of a tree.

He glanced at Fabian, saw the wry, amused smile, and for a moment closed his eyes as he felt the heat of his own embarrassment rising in his face.

Then Rose spoke again. "I really am sorry," she said. "But the headmistress sent us to find you. She wants to see you at once."

* * *

At first they walked through the hallways of Hogwarts in silence for they were all still a little uncomfortable. Scorpius had untangled himself from Fabian, quietly said good night and then had followed Rose and Albus into the entrance hall. Rose had seemed to be fighting the urge to giggle but Albus had yet to actually look at Scorpius and Scorpius couldn't help wondering why. After all, Albus hadn't exactly been discreet about kissing Simon in public over the last couple of years so why was he suddenly put off about someone else doing it?

Finally Scorpius forced the confusion from his mind and looked at Rose.

"What's going on?" he asked.

She glanced at Albus and Scorpius was surprised by the flash of anger in her eyes.

"Simon Crimshaw has confessed that he knew about Creevey assaulting you," she said, and Scorpius stopped walking, his heart suddenly thumping in his chest.

"Is that true?" he asked, directing the question at Albus and Albus finally looked at him.

"Yes," he said. "This morning he went to the headmistress. She's called a meeting. Creevey's dad is there, and so are Simon's parents. Teddy's just arrived, and my Dad's there as well – he's on the board of governors."

Scorpius' stomach had been sinking at the amount of people he was about to face, but there was some relief in knowing that Teddy and Harry Potter were there as well. Still, he sighed rather explosively and ran a tense hand through his hair.

"Don't worry, Scorp," Albus said, moving closer and resting a hand on Scorpius' arm for a moment, before drawing it back quickly. "I told them about the bruises I saw – they have no doubts. They just want to talk to you, and then they have to decide what to do."

"We should get going," Rose said in a tight voice, and they started walking again.

"What's wrong with her?" Scorpius whispered to Albus, and Albus grimaced at him.

"She's angry with me about Simon," he said.

Scorpius frowned. "But that's hardly your fault."

"She thinks I should have told her," Albus said, with a shrug. "Don't worry, she'll get over it."

When they reached the stone gargoyle Scorpius saw that Professor Snorpatch was waiting for them and he sighed nervously, for having to face this many people was something he truly hated.

"Ah, there you are," Professor Snorpatch said. "Everyone's waiting. Rose, you'd better get back to Gryffindor tower and wait with James. I'm sure Professor Cratherwaite will want to talk to you both as Gryffindor is going to need a new 6th year prefect. Albus, I think you should come with us."

The headmistresses' room seemed packed full of people when they finally reached it for as well as Simon and Martin Creevey and their parents, there was also the head of Gryffindor house, Professor Cratherwaite, standing near them. Talking quietly to the headmistress was Harry Potter, and Scorpius was surprised at how much relief he felt when Teddy immediately came to his side.

"I wish you'd told me about all this, Scorpius," he said, quietly, resting a reassuring hand on Scorpius' shoulder.

"As do I," added Professor Snorpatch.

"I almost did tell you," Scorpius said, rather breathlessly. "But there weren't any witnesses and I… um…" he trailed off as he saw Simon Crimshaw raise his head and look at him. "Well, in the end, I told Albus."

"Yes, so you did," Professor Snorpatch said, glancing sharply at Albus, and Albus shifted uncomfortably under her penetrating gaze. "I'm so glad he was able to assist you with the problem, Scorpius."

"If you could all take a seat," Professor Sprout said, and as Scorpius sat down next to Teddy he thought he'd never seen her look so grim. "Let's get to this unfortunate business. Now, Scorpius, I just need some confirmation from you. It is alleged that Martin Creevey has physically assaulted you twice, the second time with a witness. Is this so?"

Scorpius blinked for her question seemed very broad but he nodded his head.

"Yes," he said quietly.

"Well, this all seems fairly clear then," Professor Sprout said, but she was quickly interrupted by Mr. Creevey.

"I'm sorry but it does not seem at all clear to me," he said, his face reddening. "You only have this Malfoy boy's word for all of this. Yes, I know that young Albus Potter here saw some bruises but there's nothing to say where they came from, and now we have Albus Potter's boyfriend saying that he saw my son with Malfoy. But as far as I can tell, he never saw anything actually happen. And on top of all this," he added, his eyes drifting over his son, "it seems to me that my boy is the one who has been assaulted, judging by his appearance."

"Your son has merely been the victim of some classroom accidents," Professor Snorpatch said firmly. "And one of those was brought about by his own carelessness. I've never seen such bad labelling on a student's potions bottles in all my time as Potion's professor at Hogwarts."

"That may be, but-" Mr. Creevey began, but he fell silent when Harry Potter raised his hand.

"Dennis, why don't we ask Martin?" he said, calmly.

There was a moment of silence whilst everyone, except Scorpius, stared at Martin Creevey and he stared back. Then he shrugged.

"You know what," he said. "I don't care anymore. I'd rather be expelled than stay in this insane castle."

There were a few looks of confusion but Martin Creevey continued before anyone could say anything.

"Yeah, I did it," he said. "He had to be kept down. Everyone knows that Malfoy's can't be trusted and I only gave him what all the Malfoy's deserved. They're traitors, all of them."

Everyone was silent for a moment and then a lot of people began talking all at once, very loudly. Scorpius felt slightly sick and he closed his eyes, wishing he were anywhere else but in this room.

"Silence, please," Professor Sprout said sharply, and when the room was finally quiet again Scorpius opened his eyes.

Professor Sprout was looking at Martin with pity in her eyes and she shook her head and sighed.

"You poor foolish boy," she said.

"I beg your pardon-" Mr. Creevey began in an affronted voice, but Harry Potter's voice interrupted him.

"Dennis, the war was a long time ago, and we all lost people."

"Yes, Harry, I know," Dennis Creevey said. "But some of those who should have been punished weren't."

His eyes drifted over to Scorpius, and Scorpius stiffened with sudden tension, resentment churning in his stomach. Why did it always come to this, he thought, why did these people always blame a Malfoy, blame him, for their own misery? He shifted in his chair and then felt a steadying hand on his shoulder, and he looked up and met Teddy's eyes. They were full of understanding and Scorpius smiled gratefully.

"You can't measure someone else's suffering, Dennis," Harry Potter said, "but you can deal with your own. Do you think that this is what Colin fought for, what we all fought for? When we faced Voldemort, we faced hate, and I have to tell you we might not have been successful without the aid of the Malfoy family, no matter how late in the day it was. It's so easy to slip into hate, Dennis, for both Wizards and Muggles alike, and it's as dangerous as Voldemort was. Look at what has happened here. Your son and Scorpius should never have been touched by that war but now they have suffered because of it and I, for one, wanted a better world for my children."

Mr. Creevey was silent, staring at Harry Potter with obscure pain in his eyes and then he sighed.

"Very well," he said to Professor Sprout. "He's admitted it. I suppose he'll be sent down."

"I have no choice," she replied. "I can't have a student attacking another student in this way… and I can't let it go unpunished."

"I don't want to stay here anyway," Martin Creevey said, standing up, and Scorpius couldn't help sighing with relief. "This castle is too creepy."

"We'll go," Dennis Creevey said, but as they neared the door, Harry Potter gripped his arm.

"Dennis, will you both wait for me at the Three Broomsticks? We'll have dinner and I think we should talk."

Dennis Creevey looked at him for a moment, and then nodded.

After they had gone, Professor Sprout looked at Simon.

"And now we have to decide what to do about you," she said, and Scorpius sensed that beside him, Albus had gone completely still.

"Are you going to expel him as well?" Simon's father asked, a hint of anger in his voice, but Mrs. Crimshaw placed her hand on her husband's arm and shook her head.

"Let the headmistress speak, Albert," she said.

"I'm disappointed that you didn't report this immediately, Simon," Professor Sprout said. "And I'd like to know why."

"Martin was my friend," Simon finally said, after a moment of thought. "And I sort of believed the whole Malfoy's can't be trusted thing as well. But most of all, I was angry with Scorpius for personal reasons, and because of those feelings I made a mistake. I'm sorry about that."

"Yes, and I'm glad you took action in the end and told the truth," the Professor said. "But do you still feel the same way about the Malfoy family?"

Simon shook his head. "Scorpius and I aren't friends," he said, "but no, I don't believe that anymore."

Behind him, his mother nodded approvingly, whilst his father looked uncomfortable, but Simon met Professor Sprout's eyes with a clear gaze.

"Very well," she said. "Even though you've done the right thing in the end, I can't ignore the fact that you, as a prefect of Hogwarts, have let us down. You've handed in your prefect's badge but I'm afraid I will have to remove you from the Gryffindor Quidditch team as well. However, you will not be sent down. Mr Potter and I have agreed that a one-week suspension will be sufficient. You will leave tonight and return to Hogwarts next Sunday."

"Thank you Professor Sprout," Simon said, and he stood and hugged his mother.

Then he came over to Scorpius and held out his hand.

"I'm sorry, Scorpius," he said, simply.

Scorpius rose to his feet and beside him Albus stood as well. He took Simon's hand and shook it, searching for the sincerity in his eyes, but Simon's face was closed off and unreadable, even when he turned to Albus.

"I'll see you later, Al," he said, and then he followed his parents out of the room, and Scorpius didn't know what to think. He wanted to believe in Simon's sincerity, after all he _had_ confessed, but he didn't really know Simon well enough to know how genuine his apology was.

Scorpius heard the slight sigh that came from Albus, and his heart clenched with an odd mixture of disappointment and sympathy, for obviously Albus still cared for Simon and it must have been hard for him to find out that Simon had lied to him. But before he could even look at him Professor Sprout was speaking.

"Well, I'm more sorry than I can say about all this," she said. "Scorpius, you must know that you should have reported this, and you definitely should have gone to the Infirmary. Even if there hadn't been any witnesses we would have talked to you both, and at least kept more of an eye on you. I'm very disappointed that you felt you couldn't come to us with this problem."

Scorpius flushed deeply. "I'm sorry…" he faltered in confusion. "I just thought… I mean because of…."

"I think I understand," Teddy interrupted him, and Scorpius looked at him gratefully. "When you feel that people don't trust you, it makes it hard to trust other people."

"Yes," Scorpius said. "It was the whole Malfoy thing…"

"Hmmm, well," said Professor Sprout. "I'll have to make an announcement in the morning but hopefully everything will settle down now. However, if there are any problems, Scorpius, please talk to Professor Snorpatch. You'd all best get down to the great hall and get something to eat. Oh, and Albus," she continued, and suddenly the twinkle that was usually in her eyes was there again, "congratulate your Uncle Ron on that magnificent fungi specimen. He was always absolutely terrible at Herbology and George Weasley wasn't much better, so I was very impressed with the quality of their work. Very impressed."

For a moment Albus almost seemed to freeze and then he grinned at the Professor.

"Yes, Professor, I will."

* * *

Once outside the Headmistresses' office Professor Snorpatch tapped Albus on the shoulder.

"As for you," she said, "the next time a Slytherin comes to you with a problem, report it to me. I don't ever want to have to defend my students off the cuff like that again."

Albus nodded, and Scorpius heard him take a deep breath of relief as the Professor walked off down the corridor, talking to Professor Cratherwaite.

"Thank Merlin, that's over," he said.

"Not quite," said Teddy's voice, and they both turned to find him standing behind them with Harry Potter.

Scorpius braced himself but it was Harry Potter who spoke next and his words were directed at Albus.

"I see that you've made good use of the cloak and the map this year," he said, and Scorpius frowned in confusion. "Tell James that he can expect a letter from me… but I won't tell your mother." He smiled when Albus visibly relaxed and then continued, "I'd better get going. The Creevey's will be waiting for me. Scorpius, I'm sorry about what has happened but I believe things will be better now. If you need anything, write to me. I'll see you later, Teddy."

After he was gone, Scorpius looked at Teddy doubtfully.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," he said. "I almost did, but… well, I hope you're not angry with me."

"Of course I'm not angry with you," Teddy said. "Although I was furious when I first heard what had happened, and even though he seems calm now, I can tell you that Harry was as well. Martin Creevey can count himself lucky that we were delayed in getting here. I know it's been hard for you, Scorpius, dealing with this sort of ridiculous prejudice, as well as losing your parents, and I'm glad that you trusted Albus enough to tell him about it. But I want you to know that I'm here as well. Don't forget that. If you need me, I'm here."

Scorpius could only nod, for suddenly there was a lump in his throat that made it impossible to speak, and Teddy smiled.

"But I'm also here as an Auror, Scorpius," he continued, a serious look coming into his eyes. "And I need to know if you wish to press charges against Martin Creevey. He's underage but-"

"No," Scorpius quickly interrupted, shaking his head. "I just want to forget that it happened."

Teddy looked at him for a moment and then nodded.

"All right then," he said. "I'd better go."

And he gave both Albus and Scorpius a quick hug and then disappeared through a nearby door.

"Well, thank Merlin that's _really_ over," Albus immediately said, "and not only that, we actually got away with what we did to Creevey."

"Yes, and you still have to tell me how you did all that," Scorpius said as they started walking towards the Grand Staircase.

"I will, I promise," Albus said. "As soon as we get a quiet moment." He stopped suddenly and laid a hand on Scorpius' arm. "Scorp, I'm glad it was me that you… I mean I'm glad that you trusted me."

"Oh," Scorpius said softly, feeling his face flush, for there was a warm look in Albus' eyes that he couldn't decipher. "Um… well, thank you for helping me. And I'm sorry about Simon. I know that must have been hard to deal with."

The warmth seemed to fade from Albus' eyes and he quickly looked away and suddenly Scorpius had a lump in his throat again.

"Yes, it was," Albus said softly, letting go of Scorpius' arm. "We should go to dinner."

He started to walk again and Scorpius followed him, but he'd completely lost his appetite.

* * *

When Scorpius entered the Great Hall the next morning with Peony there was a hush in the air for Professor Sprout, who normally didn't attend breakfast, was seated at the staff table.

She waited as some last stragglers hurried to their seats and then rose to her feet.

"I just have a short announcement," she said, looking around the room. "Martin Creevey has been expelled from Hogwarts for physically assaulting another student." She held up a hand as a few gasps and exclamations rang through the hall, and once there was silence again she continued, "I trust that it is now completely clear what will happen to any student who harms another Hogwarts' student. I do not want this to happen again. Now, please enjoy your breakfast."

As she spoke, the usual Hogwarts' breakfast appeared on the tables and, after briefly speaking to Professor Cratherwaite, the Headmistress left the Great Hall. Immediately, the noise level rose tenfold as every student in the hall started to speculate about exactly what had happened.

Scorpius kept his head down and drank his pumpkin juice quietly; fully aware that beside him Albus was doing the same. But then Peony suddenly slammed her hand down on the table making everyone nearby jump, and Adrian cursed as he spilled tea all over his plate of eggs.

"I knew something was off," she hissed, turning to Scorpius. "You've never been clumsy, and all of a sudden you were practically accident-prone, falling off ladders and falling down stairs. Why the hell didn't you tell me, Scorp?"

Scorpius stared at her, speechless, unable to think of anything to say, and it was Albus who leaned forward and looked at her.

"Keep your voice down, Peony," he said, quietly. "I think Scorpius would prefer it if no one else knew, don't you?"

"I'm sorry, Peony," Scorpius finally managed to say, and Peony patted his arm.

"No, I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have talked to you like that after what's happened, but Scorp, I wish-"

Michael, who'd been staring at them from across the table, interrupted her. "That bloody bastard," he said. "I'll kill him."

"You can't," Albus said, quickly. "He's gone, remember? Now, will you all keep it down?"

Scorpius nodded in agreement for as much as it warmed his heart to hear their words of support he really didn't want the whole school to find out what had happened.

"Wait a moment, where's Simon?" Adrian said, and Albus sighed fretfully. "He's not here and he's not at the Gryffindor table either. Where is he, Al?"

Scorpius stared at his plate as Albus sighed again. "He's been suspended for a week, all right," he said. "He knew about Creevey and didn't report it for a while. Now will you all just shut up and let us eat breakfast in peace."

And after that there was, thankfully, silence but Scorpius suspected that it was because they were all too stunned to speak.

* * *

It was Sunday, so after breakfast there were no classes. Albus, Michael and Adrian had Quidditch practice and Scorpius, Peony and Rose were wandering down to the pitch to watch, when Scorpius felt a hand on his arm, and he turned around to find Fabian standing behind him.

"Want to come for a walk?" he asked, smiling, and Scorpius nodded.

"I'll see you later," he said to Peony and Rose, ignoring Peony's amused look.

Fabian took his hand and they walked around the castle, heading for the lake.

"So, Creevey," Fabian said softly. "It was you, yes?"

"Yes," Scorpius said quietly. "Please don't ask me why I didn't tell you. I've had enough of that this morning, and really the less people that know the better."

Fabian nodded his head. "I understand," he said, glancing at Scorpius with a twinkle in his eye. "But I'm really glad that I got the chance to punch him in the head when I did."

They'd reached the lake by this time and there was a chill breeze coming off the water. Scorpius shivered slightly as he gazed at Fabian in surprise, and Fabian laughed and pulled Scorpius into his arms.

"Ah now, please don't ask me why I didn't tell you," he said with a wink, and then his mouth was on Scorpius' lips and Scorpius didn't notice the cold anymore.


	16. Chapter 16

Albus was in a foul mood as he left the Quidditch pitch with Adrian and Michael. Practice had gone badly and his temper was not helped by the sight of Scorpius walking from the direction of the lake, hand-in-hand with Fabian Smith.

"Hey, look at them," Adrian said. "And they went on that date yesterday. So, are they together now?"

He looked curiously at Albus, and before he could stop himself Albus erupted.

"I should think that's bloody obvious, even for someone as thick-headed as you," he snarled, ignoring the look of shock on Adrian's face.

"Whoa," Adrian said, as Michael reached out and gripped Albus' arm.

"All right, Al," Michael said. "You've been as explosive as a Blast-Ended Skrewt all morning. Time to spill. What's going on?"

"Nothing," Albus said quickly, but it was too late. Adrian had taken his other arm and they pulled him into the Quidditch shed and shoved him onto a bench.

"Talk," Michael said. "Is this about Simon? What exactly happened?"

Albus glared at them for a moment and then finally the anger drained out of him, leaving him exhausted. He sighed heavily.

"We broke up," he said flatly and watched the surprise flood into their eyes.

"Bloody hell," Adrian said, quietly. "I was beginning to think you two were going to be together forever."

"Yeah, well," Albus shrugged. "We'd been having problems for a little while, and then this business with Scorpius and Creevey happened. Mind you, I was going to break up with him before he got suspended."

"Simon never liked Scorpius," Michael said, looking down at Albus with a raised brow. "But I think maybe you do, Al, more than you think."

Albus thought back to the night before, the moment when he'd followed Rose into the entrance courtyard and seen Scorpius and Fabian together. They'd been partly hidden by a tree so Albus hadn't realised what they'd been doing until he'd gotten closer, and then his heart had seemed to stop. He hadn't been able to tear his eyes away from the sight of Scorpius with his arms wrapped around another boy, eagerly returning his kiss, and his stomach had twisted with a mixture of desire and anger. Then Rose had spoken, and just in time Albus had managed to look away, but he'd replayed the scene many times in his head since then.

"Actually, I know exactly how much I like Scorpius," Albus admitted quietly. "That's part of the problem."

Adrian whistled and sat down beside Albus on the bench.

"So, why'd you let him go off with Fabian?" he asked, and Albus' stared at him in angry disbelief.

"Fuck off, genius," he said, but Adrian only laughed.

"Yeah, sorry," he said. "Dumb question."

And Albus' anger faded again, and he sighed.

"I thought it was too soon," he said simply, and Michael nodded.

"Yeah," he agreed. "So, how did Simon take it?"

Albus frowned. "He was upset, of course. We both were. And then he was suspended so I didn't get a chance to talk to him again. Not that there's much to say, but it does feel like it happened too quickly."

"Why exactly was he suspended?" Adrian asked.

"Look, if I tell you, you have to promise me that you'll back off. I don't want you two confronting him and stirring everything up again. Scorpius wouldn't want that either."

"All right," Michael said, Adrian nodded, and Albus took a deep breath and told them what had happened. Once he'd finished he could see the anger in their eyes and for a moment they were all silent.

Finally Adrian spoke. "Well, he _really_ didn't like Scorp."

"It's not an excuse, but he could see how I was beginning to feel about Scorpius. I can't help feeling a little to blame," Albus admitted. "I should have talked to him sooner."

"Now you're being stupid, Al," Michael said firmly. "Even if you had talked to him he still might have done the same thing. At least he owned up to it in the end, I suppose. But what about Scorpius, Al?"

"What about him?" Albus asked, trying not to sound as testy as he felt.

It was obvious he was unsuccessful when Michael's brow rose. "You can't go around yelling at everyone just because Scorp's with Fabian," he said. "Scorp's had a bad year so far and if he's got a chance to be happy it's not fair of you to begrudge him that. And you can't take it out on all of us either."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Albus said, with a sigh. "I'm sorry."

"Merlin, sometimes I wonder how you ever got into Slytherin, Michael," Adrian suddenly said. "You're way too fair-minded. I think Al should go for it. I mean it, Al, if you want Scorpius, get rid of Fabian, and take him."

"Fuck you, Adrian," Michael said, and Albus could hear the anger building in his usually mild voice. "And what about what Scorp wants in all of this? You can't just go interfering in his life like that."

A moment later they were both yelling at each other and Albus sighed wearily. They didn't argue often but when they did it was usually loud and violent and he knew he'd have to step in soon but for a minute he simply watched them because what they had said had struck a little too close to home. Because he had to admit that the previous night the jealous temptation had been there, stronger than he'd expected, and the Slytherin side of him had kept plotting up ways to separate Scorpius from Fabian, whilst the Potter in him had firmly squashed all the ideas he came up with. He was still distracted by the memory when Adrian swung a fist at Michael's head and Albus finally stood up and got between them.

"Will you two stop it?" he yelled. "If you think you're helping, you really aren't. And if either of you dare say anything about this to Scorpius I'll hex you into hell."

They both fell silent and looked a little sheepish and Albus pressed his advantage.

"And I don't want you blabbing about Simon and I breaking up either," he said. "Not until he's back at Hogwarts. It wouldn't be fair to do that to him when he's not here, and I don't care whether you think that's not Slytherin enough, Adrian. I mean it."

Adrian muttered something that Albus couldn't decipher but eventually he nodded his head and Albus released his arm.

"All right," Michael agreed a moment later, and then Albus made them shake hands and they all left the shed to head back to the castle.

* * *

But by dinnertime Albus' idea of keeping the break-up secret had fallen apart. He noticed a few strange looks directed at him as he took his place beside Scorpius at the Slytherin table and he wasn't surprised when Rose came and sat with them.

"I thought you should know about the rumours, Al," she said. "It's all over the Gryffindor common room and it's starting to spread."

Albus closed his eyes for a moment and sighed because really, could the day get any worse? Unfortunately it turned out that it could.

"Before he left last night Simon went up to the dorms to get some stuff and he ran into Nathan Trent. Nathan says that he told him that you two have broken up."

Anger stirred in Albus again, mixed with a lot of surprise. He'd really wanted the chance to talk to Simon again before everyone else found out, and he'd hoped that Simon would feel that way too, but obviously Simon hadn't felt the need to wait.

He took a deep breath, deciding that he might as well get it over with.

"Yeah, well, that's true," he said, raising his voice so those around him could hear. "We broke up."

He saw a few surprised looks and heard a few whispers but he had to admit that most of his attention was on the boy beside him, so he felt it when Scorpius seemed to freeze. It was only for a moment, and Albus didn't have much time to wonder about it because Rose tugged painfully on his arm.

"Al, you _idiot_ , I hadn't finished," she hissed in his ear. "He also told Nathan that it was because of Scorpius and now everyone's going to think you've just confirmed it."

And it was Albus' turn to freeze as he tried desperately to keep the sudden fury, and also the disappointment off his face. He'd thought that Simon had understood but it seemed he'd been wrong, and Simon's resentment about Scorpius had once again clouded his judgement.

"Bugger," he breathed, and Rose squeezed his hand in sympathy.

Somehow he made it through the meal but he didn't eat much because all he could think about was how he was going to explain the whole mess to Scorpius, and he really didn't want to do it. And of course, Merlin knew how Fabian Smith would react when he heard the rumours, and he wondered if it was significant that Fabian and the entire remaining Gryffindor Quidditch team were absent from the Gryffindor table. He was going to have to find James and talk to him as soon as he could.

He glanced around the table at his friends and he could tell that the news had reached them because Adrian and Michael both looked annoyed, and Peony gave him a look that promised pain.

Finally he risked a glance at Scorpius and his heart sank when he saw the embarrassed confusion on his face. To Albus it was clear that he was trying to figure out why so many people seemed to be looking at the two of them and whispering, but unfortunately to everyone else he probably looked as guilty as hell.

Then Peony got up and leaned over them. "Right," she said. "Family meeting. Common room. Now. You come too, Rose."

Albus glared at her resentfully as he got up and followed her but at the same time it was an utter relief to get out of the Great Hall.

The common room was completely empty when they reached it and they sank into the couches near the end fireplace and looked at each other for a moment. Surprisingly it was Scorpius who spoke first.

"Will someone tell me what is going on?" he said, in a soft, puzzled voice.

"Yes, Al," Peony said, sharply. "Why don't you explain?"

"It's not Al's fault, Peony," Rose immediately said. "He can't help it if Simon's saying-"

"Shut up, Rose," Albus interrupted, and she fell silent.

"What is Simon saying?" Scorpius asked.

And before Albus could say anything Peony burst into speech.

"He's saying that he and Al broke up because you and Al were… well… he's saying that the break up was because of you..."

She faltered into silence because they could all see that Scorpius looked so utterly mortified that he almost looked ill. Without a word, he got up and headed for the dorm room.

"Well done, Peony," Albus said, rising to his feet. "Could you all just get it into your thick heads that none of this is any of your business? You all know the truth so why did you have to tell him like that, as if the whole rumour was our fault."

"I'm sorry, Al," she said quickly. "I'll talk to him."

"No, you won't," Albus said firmly, but he softened his tone because he could see that she was really upset. "Because, again, it's none of your business. I'll talk to him."

They were still silent as he left the common room.

* * *

Scorpius was standing near the window, watching the fish swimming by, when Albus entered the dorm room, and he didn't turn around.

"You know," he said quietly, as Albus moved closer, "I really thought that with Creevey gone people might stop saying horrible things about me."

Albus' heart sank as he heard the pained resignation in Scorpius' voice.

"Well, they're saying horrible things about me too," he said, and Scorpius turned to look at him with a strained smile.

"Yes, at least I'm used to it, I suppose," he said, taking a seat on the end of his bed. "I'm sorry, Al."

"Hey, stop that," Albus said quickly. "You don't apologise for this, Scorp. None of this is your fault."

Scorpius looked away and Albus could see the flush rising in his face and Albus figured that he was thinking of the crush he'd had on Albus and suddenly he realised that Scorpius knew that Simon had known about it. He opened his mouth, floundering for the words to reassure Scorpius without giving away that he also knew about Scorpius' feelings, or revealing his own, but before he could say anything there was a knock on the door.

"Sorry," came Michael's muffled voice, "but James and Fabian are here, and they're insisting on talking to you. Can they come in?"

Albus really wanted to say no, particularly when he saw that Scorpius was looking sick again, but he supposed they'd have to face Fabian eventually and he knew that James probably wouldn't give up so easily. He gave Scorpius a questioning look and when Scorpius nodded, he opened the door.

Fabian's face was unreadable as he entered the room but the look James gave Albus was positively triumphant and Albus froze in shock. He quickly recovered but as he closed the door in Michael's face he had a very bad feeling that the next few minutes were going to be full of some nasty surprises.

When he turned back to the room, Scorpius was standing by the window again, fidgeting nervously.

"Fabian…" he began, after clearing his throat but when Fabian held up a hand, Scorpius fell silent.

"You don't have to say anything, beautiful," he said, and he finally smiled. "I know the truth."

Albus frowned, for there was something strange in Fabian's voice that seemed significant, and a gleam had come into his eyes.

"Now," James said, "as this rumour was started by Nathan bloody Trent, one of my few remaining Quidditch team members, we felt that it should be handled by Gryffindor house. Luckily, I've finally managed to convince Fabian here to come back onto the Quidditch team, and so we had a little team meeting and we think we've come up with a solution."

"Fortunately I'm fairly experienced with rumours," Fabian said, with a grin, "and I've got a way for all of us to come out of this one looking good. Even Simon." He paused for what Albus felt was purely dramatic effect and then he grinned again.

"The only thing is," he continued, "you two will have to _pretend_ to be in love with each other."

* * *

There was dead silence in the room and Albus knew that Scorpius was as speechless with shock as he was, but still Fabian's emphasis on the word 'pretend' hadn't been lost on him, and he eyed Fabian's bland expression with suspicion.

Then he remembered the look of triumph that James had given him earlier and he narrowed his eyes at his brother.

"What exactly have you done?" he asked.

"We've embellished what Simon told Nathan a little," James said. "The whole story is now so disgustingly romantic that every girl in Hogwarts is going to be praying that you two finally get together. Probably every boy as well."

"Fabian…" they all jumped slightly as Scorpius finally spoke in a strangled voice. "Fabian, why…?"

Within a second, Fabian was at Scorpius' side, whispering in his ear and Albus really wished that he could hear what he was saying, particularly when Scorpius suddenly blushed a fiery red.

"Let them talk for a minute," James said quietly, moving to Albus' side, and Albus glared at him.

"Have you gone completely mad?" he hissed. "You're pushing us both into a corner and I'm going to hex you for this."

"You should be thanking me," James said, seriously. "I know you said you wanted some time, but I think that you and Scorpius would be good together so maybe you should give up on the waiting. Be a Slytherin, Al, and take advantage of this chance, because Fabian said if you don't take it, he won't give you another one. He's only doing this now because he knows that Scorpius likes you, and he's only got a few months left at Hogwarts anyway. He's a true Gryffindor," James added proudly, and Albus snorted.

"He's a bloody lunatic," he said, but deep down he suspected that James was right about Fabian, and he couldn't help feeling a little guilty about the way he'd thought about him previously.

"That too," James agreed, and Albus had to laugh.

"So, are you going to tell me how you're going to turn us all into romantic heroes?"

"I'll do that."

Albus looked up at the sound of Fabian's voice but his eyes immediately slid to Scorpius, who, he saw, was looking stunned and rather nervous.

"So, this is the story," Fabian continued, his voice lowering dramatically. "A few months ago, you two fell accidentally and deeply in love. In the noblest fashion you both tried to fight and suppress it, because neither of you wanted to hurt Simon, but Simon eventually realised what had happened. Finally, no longer able to watch the suffering of his lover, Albus, and his dear friend, Scorpius, Simon broke up with Albus and… um… got himself suspended. Then, to ensure that his plan succeeded, he told Nathan what had happened so that you would both be forced to face the truth and admit your feelings."

There was a moment of silence and Albus took a deep breath, but before he could say anything, Scorpius was speaking in a doubtful voice.

"Um, that's a little over the top, isn't it?" he said, his face flushing. "I mean, what happens when Simon gets back and, well, completely denies the whole thing?"

"He'll look like a complete idiot if he does," James said. "I doubt he'll be happy about it but he'll go along with it if he's got any sense."

"And what about you?" Albus asked Fabian. "How do you fit into all of this because yesterday you-"

"No one really knows about that," Fabian said, with a quick glance at Scorpius. "I do know how to be discreet, you know. _I'm_ the true, loyal and steadfast friend who stood by Scorpius' side and tried to ease his aching heart."

Albus stared at Fabian for a moment, full of doubt, and he'd just decided that he couldn't possibly go through with the whole crazy plan when Scorpius spoke again.

"I really don't think anyone's going to believe any of this," he said, and James snorted.

"Well, that's where you're wrong," he said. "Because they already do. We coached Nathan thoroughly and he's already got the Hufflepuff 2nd years in tears."

There was another moment in which the only sound was Scorpius' startled gasp, and then Albus exploded.

"Are you saying," he yelled, "that Nathan _bloody_ Trent is already out there telling people this _insane_ story?"

"Settle down, Al," James said, calmly. "You always were way too short-tempered. Mum says he gets it off Dad," he confided to Scorpius, whilst Albus spluttered furiously.

Scorpius stared at James blankly for a moment and then suddenly his silvery laugh rang through the room, and it made Albus shiver, just as it always seemed to.

"And she also says you get your lunacy from Uncle George and Uncle Ron," he said, and when Scorpius laughed again, Albus couldn't hold back his own smile.

"Well, good, that's all settled then," Fabian said, clapping his hands together and making Albus jump. "Let's get out of here, James. This dungeon is too depressing."

"Hey, wait a minute," Albus said. "And what exactly are we supposed to do?"

Fabian raised an eyebrow and grinned whilst Albus gave him a steady look. Finally Fabian shrugged.

"I'd suggest that you draw things out for awhile. Give everyone a chance to get really worked up. But if you're _actually_ going to get it together," and he gave Albus a knowing look, "I'd recommend that you do it before Simon gets back."

Albus stared at him for a moment, amazed at his sheer audacity, and before he could think of any response, James and Fabian were heading for the door. Fabian stopped beside him for a second.

"Don't blow it, Potter," he said, in a low, serious voice, and then they were gone.

* * *

Alone with Scorpius, Albus was struck by an onslaught of nerves. They stared at each other for a moment, and then Albus swallowed heavily.

"Look, Scorp," he finally managed to say. "I really have to apologise about James. He's an idiot," he paused, and then quickly added, "and we don't have to go through with this if you don't want to."

Scorpius twisted his hands, his eyes full of anxiety, and Albus really wanted to hold him, but he held back and waited.

"What do you think we should do?" Scorpius eventually asked in a breathless voice.

And suddenly Albus wanted to follow Fabian's plan exactly. He wanted to act as if the whole thing was real (particularly as some of Fabian's ridiculous story did actually skirt close to the truth) and have everybody waiting with anticipation for the moment when he and Scorpius would finally give in to the inevitable and succumb to their desires… and oh Merlin, he was actually beginning to sound like Fabian in his head.

"I think," Albus said, trying to ignore his suddenly rapidly beating heart, "that maybe we should just go along with it for awhile and see what happens. I mean, the story is already out there, after all."

He almost held his breath as he waited for Scorpius to answer. Scorpius' still looked worried, but after a minute he nodded.

"All right," he said, so softly that Albus almost missed it, and he smiled shyly.

Albus couldn't help grinning but he managed to restrain the triumph he felt from showing in it.

"Right then," he said, opening the door. "Let's go and explain this mess to the others."

* * *

Once they got back to the common room it was abundantly clear that Fabian and James had obviously already talked to their friends for all of them looked at Albus and Scorpius with eyes full of laughter, and Adrian looked positively jubilant.

"I have a feeling the next few days are going to be a lot of fun," he said. "You can count on us completely."

Albus eyed him narrowly. "Just don't go overboard," he warned. "In fact, I think I'd prefer it if you didn't try to help at all."

Adrian laughed. "No chance of that," he said. "We've all been cast as – how did Fabian put it? - the steady, supportive friends, trying to shield you from prying eyes, whilst helping you let go of your pointless guilt and find happiness. Or something like that."

Albus rolled his eyes, and he was relieved to see that whilst Scorpius flushed he also looked amused.

"Just so long as you're a _silent_ , steady, supportive friend, Adrian," Albus said, and everyone laughed.

They all settled down on the couches and various conversations started up but Albus didn't feel like talking. Scorpius was sitting with Rose and Michael and Albus, deciding that he might as well get into character, openly watched him. He couldn't help wondering exactly what Fabian had said to Scorpius in the dorm room, and if whatever it was had contributed to Scorpius' decision to go along with the plan, but he couldn't think of any way to find out without asking Scorpius directly, and he was fairly sure that Scorpius wouldn't tell him.

As he watched Scorpius talking to Rose, his mind drifted back to the night before and the image of Scorpius in Fabian's arms. He had to admit it had hurt to see it, and the fact that he'd known that he really had no right to feel that way hadn't helped. It had been the end of a hellish day, most of it spent in the Headmistresses office with Simon, going over what had happened over and over again, and then waiting for everyone else to arrive - but the moment he'd seen Scorpius with Fabian, Albus had forgotten all about Simon.

He'd thought that he'd lost Scorpius, and suddenly he felt he'd been completely stupid to think that it was too soon after Simon to be with someone else. The truth was, Scorpius had been in his mind for months now, and whilst he'd regretted the pain and loss with Simon, the thought of losing his chance with Scorpius had taken his breath away.

And now it felt as if he could breathe again. It didn't matter that Scorpius had seemed to be enjoying that kiss with Fabian because he'd agreed to this crazy plan and surely Scorpius had to know what that would mean in the end.

At that moment, Scorpius looked up and met Albus' eyes. Immediately he flushed and looked away again and Albus thought that in the context of the plan, his reaction was perfect. But Albus knew that it was also real. Sudden excitement lanced through his heart and his usual confidence was back and soaring. The next few days were going to be a lot of fun, and by the end of them, Albus would make damn sure that Scorpius wasn't remembering that kiss with Fabian.

The sound of a sigh nearby penetrated his thoughts and he turned his head to find two 3rd year girls watching him intently with soulful eyes. He resisted the urge to laugh.

"Well, that was quick," Peony said into his ear. "The Gryffindors certainly know how to work the rumour mill. It's annoying actually. As Slytherins, we really should have thought this up ourselves."

Albus gave her a startled look. "I thought you'd try to hex me. After all, you wanted Scorpius to go out with Fabian."

"That was when I thought you were going to stick it out with Simon," she said, with an amused smile, and Albus actually felt his face get hot. Her smile widened. "But don't go thinking I'm going to tell you anything that Scorpius has told me," she continued. "Because I won't betray his trust."

"I didn't think you would," he replied, patting her hand. "You're a good friend, Peony."

"Bloody charmer," she said, with a grin. "Go back to staring at Scorpius. With luck, some of those girls over there might actually faint and that would be _very_ entertaining."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a companion piece to this story called 'James Potter and the Gryffindor Prince Charming' which begins from the end of this chapter.


	17. Chapter 17

Scorpius Malfoy woke the next morning, after an unsettled night, and couldn't help wondering if he'd taken leave of his senses the previous evening.

Had he actually agreed to act out some sort of dramatic, star-crossed lovers thing with Albus Potter? And had Albus actually agreed to do the same? With the dim, light of dawn filtering through a crack in his bed curtains, Scorpius felt as if the whole thing was some sort of fantastic dream.

But it wasn't.

It probably wasn't fair to blame Fabian, but he wanted to. He knew that Fabian hadn't placed a spell on him but it had felt like he had as soon as Fabian had started whispering in his ear, and the result was that Scorpius had found himself agreeing to the crazy plan without fully realising what he was doing.

He thought back over that quick conversation trying to pinpoint the exact moment when he'd lost his mind.

When Fabian had first announced his idea, Scorpius had been mortified and horrified, and thoroughly confused. After all, it had only been a few hours since Scorpius had been at the lake with Fabian, and the memory of their lips pressed together was still fresh in his mind.

He'd wanted an explanation but when Fabian had started whispering in his ear it felt like he'd got a lot more than that.

"Now, beautiful," Fabian had said, "don't be worrying about this. We had a great time together but we both know that it's Albus you really want."

Scorpius had felt his face burn with fiery heat and there had been nowhere to hide. The relief he'd felt when he'd seen James distracting Albus had been intense.

"Fabian, I-" he'd begun, but Fabian had quickly interrupted him.

"I know you tried to move on," he'd said, his mouth close to Scorpius' ear. "And I'm glad you tried it with me."

Scorpius hadn't thought his face could get any hotter but it had. "Fabian, I do really like you," he'd said.

Fabian had nodded, and then quickly glanced at Albus and James. When he'd seen that they were both still talking he'd leaned forward and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to Scorpius' lips, and Scorpius had wondered how it was that when he wasn't that experienced with kissing he could tell that this one meant goodbye.

"I like you too, Scorpius," Fabian had said, after he'd pulled away. "That's why I'm doing this."

Scorpius had been staring at him blankly but he'd finally got himself together and laid a hand on Fabian's arm.

"Fabian, just because Albus and Simon have broken up doesn't mean…"

He'd faltered into silence because Fabian had been smiling at him in amusement.

"Oh but it does," he'd said, his eyes twinkling. "Albus wants you, beautiful, and I bet you ten galleons that he agrees to go along with our idea."

And that was probably when it had happened, Scorpius thought, as he stretched slightly in his bed, because after that, even though he'd questioned the sense of the plan, those words had been in his mind the entire time.

He had to admit he'd been almost sick with anxiety when he'd asked Albus what he thought they should do, because that had been the moment of truth, the moment when he'd find out if Fabian was right. When Albus had said they should go along with it, for a moment Scorpius hadn't actually believed that he had heard the words, but then suddenly he'd noticed that Albus looked as nervous as Scorpius felt.

His heart had been hammering in his chest and the blood had been rushing in his ears but he'd somehow managed to agree, and then Albus had smiled, and Scorpius had found himself following Albus from the room.

After that, he'd spent most of the evening wondering what would happen next.

* * *

He was still wondering as he got out of bed and went into the bathroom. It was early but Scorpius knew that he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. He felt too strung out, and expectation and anticipation were knotted all together in his stomach, so he showered and dressed and went down to the common room.

Thankfully it was empty and Scorpius settled near the fireplace and tried to read a book, but after a few minutes he gave up and sighed. He just could not concentrate and he was actually beginning to wonder how he would get through the day.

"Hiya, Scorp."

Scorpius jumped slightly as Peony sat down beside him. She eyed him for a moment and then grinned.

"You look like a nervous wreck," she said. "I'd tell you to get it together before we go to breakfast but actually I think this will fit into the plan perfectly."

Scorpius flushed and winced because the idea of walking into the Great Hall with everyone watching him, speculating and full of expectation, made him feel a bit sick.

Peony patted his hand. "Hey," she said, softly. "Don't get so worked up about it, Scorpius. You really need to learn to relax and have a little fun."

Scorpius gave her a resentful look and she grinned at him again.

"I mean it, Scorp," she said. "I bet you anything that Albus is planning on enjoying himself and you should too. After all, you're going to get what you've wanted all this time, so just go along with the plan and have a good time."

Scorpius' eyes widened at this plain speaking but deep inside, Peony's words struck a chord. His mother had always told him that he had a tendency to worry too much and that he should be more carefree, so maybe now was the perfect time to follow that advice, and when he thought about it, the story that Fabian had outlined _had_ been rather amusing.

And then he remembered the way that Albus had watched him last night in the common room, with his eyes full of something that had made Scorpius feel warm all over and had brought butterflies to his stomach, and he had to admit there was something to be said for anticipation.

Finally he looked at Peony and smiled.

"You know," he said, "for once in your life I think you might be right."

And then he ducked as she threw a cushion at his head.

* * *

As soon as they entered the Great Hall it was obvious that the story had flown around the school, for nearly every head turned to watch them. Scorpius couldn't help flinching, he'd never liked a lot of attention and in his previous experience it usually hadn't been positive, so he got a bit of a shock when he saw the wistful smiles that were being directed at him.

Adrian, Michael and Peony were taking their roles seriously and were walking in a protective circle around Albus and Scorpius and as they headed for the Slytherin table, Rose joined them. Scorpius took his usual seat and as Albus sat down beside him he heard a few sighs further down the table and he couldn't help flushing, ducking his head.

Then Albus leaned forward and glanced down the table towards the group of 3rd year girls who were watching them avidly.

"Knock it off," he said quietly, in a voice that wasn't angry but did hold a warning.

All of the girls looked startled and then they smiled at Albus with clasped hands and shining eyes. Scorpius had a feeling that a couple of them were actually on the verge of crying and he shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Then, thankfully, they started whispering amongst themselves and Scorpius took a long sip of pumpkin juice in relief.

"Oh well done, Al," Rose whispered, leaning across Scorpius to look at her cousin. "Protective is exactly the right role for you."

"And blushing bride is exactly the right look for Scorp," Adrian whispered, from across the table and Scorpius slammed his empty goblet down on the table making a few people jump.

"I beg your pardon?" he hissed, glaring at Adrian, and Adrian seemed to swallow heavily.

"Oh, I… I mean I didn't…" he stuttered, nervously.

Scorpius narrowed his eyes, for being called a 'blushing bride' had been a little too reminiscent of the 'Slytherin Fairy Princess' tag, and he was literally shaking with sudden fury.

"Just because I'm not an attention-seeking idiot like you, doesn't mean I'm some sort of delicate _princess_ ," he said, his voice low and angry, and Adrian looked dismayed.

"I didn't mean…"

"Scorp, he didn't-' Albus said softly, and Scorpius glanced at him.

"Shut up, Al," he said, ignored the surprised widening of Albus' eyes, and turned back to Adrian. He reached into his robes and pulled out his wand.

"I'll give you a blushing bride," he said, and pointed his wand at Adrian's horrified face.

There was a flash of pink, a moment of startled silence, and then an eruption of laughter throughout the Great Hall.

"Oh, Merlin, Scorp," Peony gasped, tears streaming down her face. "How did you _do_ that?"

Scorpius didn't answer for he was gazing, with great satisfaction, at Adrian who now had a bright pink face and a veil and tiara on his head.

"Scorpius Malfoy!" A voice rang out and some of the laughter dissipated. Scorpius looked up to see that Professor Snorpatch was standing at the staff table with one long finger pointed towards him. "Twenty points from Slytherin."

Adrian, nervously fingering his veil, turned to the Professor.

"I'm sorry, Professor," he called out. "It was my fault. I was… um… teasing him."

"Oh really?" she said, sarcastically. "Another twenty points from Slytherin then."

There were a few groans along the Slytherin table, but there was still a lot of laughter, much to Scorpius' relief. He'd never actually lost any points for his house before and for a moment he'd been worried about the reaction.

Adrian turned to him and held up a hand. "All forgiven?" he asked, and Scorpius smiled.

"Good," said Adrian. "Now please, _please_ , get this stuff off me."

Scorpius widened his eyes.

"Oh, um," he said, quietly. "I'm not entirely sure how to, actually."

And beside him Albus erupted into loud laughter.

* * *

The rest of breakfast passed by fairly normally after that, although Adrian was mortified and silent, whilst a few people at the table occasionally giggled quietly into their tea or pumpkin juice.

When they all finally got up to head to their Potions lesson Scorpius again found himself walking beside Albus surrounded by a tight circle of their friends.

"This is really quite ridiculous," Albus muttered beside him. "Honestly, it's like they think someone's going to attack us with a love potion or something."

"Oh, Merlin," Scorpius gasped. "You don't think someone would actually do that, do you?"

Albus laughed. "Of course not, Scorp. The whole point of the thing is that we're already in love, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," Scorpius said faintly, and of course, he could feel his cheeks starting to flush because Albus had said that so casually as if it was something that was just generally accepted. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Albus smiling and, most annoyingly, his blush deepened so it was a great relief when he looked up to find Fabian and James standing in front of them.

"Well, this all seems to be going very well," Fabian said, in a pleased voice, whilst James grinned at them.

"But I must say, Bole," Fabian continued, eyeing Adrian. "You've gone a little too far in the costume department. Believe me, that is not a good look for you."

"Oh, very funny," Adrian muttered, storming off towards the dungeon staircase, and after waving to Fabian and James they all followed him.

"You know," Albus whispered, moving closer to Scorpius. "You should really take pity on him before class."

"What?" Scorpius asked, a little breathlessly he had to admit, because Albus' arm was brushing his and he could feel his warm breath against his ear.

"You're not as innocent as you look," Albus said, his voice heavily amused. "You know exactly how to remove that spell, and as much as I enjoy seeing Adrian so embarrassed, he _is_ our friend."

"Oh, all right," Scorpius sighed, trying to ignore the fluttering in his stomach from having Albus so close. "But only if you _finally_ tell me how you did all that stuff to Creevey."

"Couch date after dinner tonight," Albus whispered. "And I'll tell you _everything_."

Scorpius shivered and nodded, unable to speak, because there had been something almost… well, provocative was the only word he could think of… in Albus' voice, as if he was _flirting_ with Scorpius, and Scorpius really had no idea how to react to that.

Fortunately he didn't really have to because by this time they had reached the classroom, so as Scorpius passed Adrian he drew out his wand and waved it over Adrian's head.

"Oh, thank Merlin," Adrian said, "Is it gone?"

"Yes," Peony laughed, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "And you're as handsome as ever."

"Thanks, Scorp," Adrian called out, and Scorpius gave him a forgiving smile.

They all filed into the classroom, but it wasn't until he was about to take his usual seat that Scorpius realised that the room was strangely silent. Then he also realised that the seat beside him was empty, and he glanced around with a puzzled expression to find that Peony was sitting with Adrian, her eyes full of mirth as she watched Scorpius.

And then he saw that Albus was sitting at his usual table. The seat beside him that was normally occupied by Simon was vacant, and the rest of the students in the room were watching them both avidly, almost as if they were collectively holding their breath.

The tension in the room seemed to rise as Albus met Scorpius eyes, and then he picked up his bag and moved over to Scorpius' table, taking the seat beside him. Someone in the room sighed loudly, echoed by a soft giggle from another part of the room, and Albus rolled his eyes, his mouth twisting into an amused smirk as Scorpius slowly sat down.

And Scorpius fought hard not to blush but as his cheeks began to burn he knew that it was a battle he would lose, and he sighed softly.

"Well done," Adrian whispered behind them, and Scorpius really wished that he hadn't removed that charm.

* * *

The rest of the day went by quickly and by the end of it Scorpius was even slowly getting used to being the centre of attention. Everywhere he went he was the object of limpid gazes and whispering sighs and the weight of expectation was even worse if he was near Albus, but strangely enough he didn't mind it as much as he'd thought he would. Maybe it was the unbridled amusement in his friend's eyes, and the way that whenever he saw Albus his green eyes sparkled with it as well, as if they all shared a secret that made everyone else look ridiculous (which was sort of true), but whatever it was, Scorpius' embarrassment faded throughout the day.

And then, finally, he found himself sitting close to Albus, alone on a secluded couch in the Slytherin common room, with a taut string of nerves vibrating inside him and he had to admit, it was kind of exciting. He knew that throughout the room various groups were watching them avidly, but he just didn't care.

"All right," Albus said quietly. "I'm going to tell you something I've never told anyone else. It's a family secret."

Scorpius' eyes widened, for he had a feeling that Albus was also trying to tell him that this was something he'd never told _Simon_ either, and that made a warm feeling swell up in Scorpius' heart and he couldn't help smiling.

"Do you remember the other day when my Dad mentioned a map and a cloak?" Albus asked, and Scorpius quickly nodded, because he'd wondered about that a few times since.

"Well," Albus continued, grinning. "Back when my grandfather – my Potter grandfather – was at Hogwarts, he and his friends made a magical map of the entire castle. Not only does it show any secret entrances and passages but it also tells you where anyone is in the castle. It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen, and my father used it a lot when he was at Hogwarts, and he gave it to James when he started here."

Scorpius could feel he was probably gaping but he couldn't help marvelling at a father who would give his son something with so much potential for mischief. He was fairly certain that his own father wouldn't have done it. The Potters (and Weasleys) really were rather extraordinary, Scorpius decided.

"Now, this next bit is a really big secret," Albus said, and a serious light came into his eyes. "Have you heard of an invisibility cloak?"

Scorpius gasped. "You mean like the one in the Deathly Hallows story?"

"I mean the one that _is_ in the Deathly Hallows story," Albus whispered, moving closer and Scorpius was so distracted that he didn't even really notice it.

" _Merlin_ ," Scorpius breathed. "I never really believed it existed. And your father gave it to you to bring to school?" He couldn't help looking at Albus' incredulously.

"I know it must seem strange," Albus said, and he was grinning again. "But I did warn you that my family was a bit mad. Are you sure you want to get involved with them?"

And the way that Albus asked that question, Scorpius was fairly certain that he was being flirted with, and whilst it made him flush a little, this time he wasn't going to let embarrassment get the better of him. So, he looked Albus directly in the eye and slowly smiled.

"Oh, I think I can handle it," he said, with more confidence than he was feeling. "I have so far."

Albus' eyes widened just for a second, and then he shifted closer to Scorpius again and this time Scorpius really did notice it.

"Yeah, you have," Albus said softly, with something intense in his eyes and Scorpius felt that quiver of something in his stomach, something that was a mixture of nerves and… he knew he was going to have to finally admit it… desire. He couldn't help gasping a little at the thought, because he'd always denied it so thoroughly, but now he couldn't deny it… or ignore it. Still, he wasn't yet entirely comfortable with the idea so he moved away a little and gave Albus a shy smile.

"So, how did you use the map and the cloak?" he asked, and Albus grinned.

"Well, James and Rose used them to follow Creevey so Rose could put that transfiguration charm on him when he was alone. We didn't need it for the fungi thing or the hair thing because James just snuck into his dorm and did those while he was sleeping. We all took turns following him around all weekend with the map and the cloak, and I used the cloak to break into the Potion's lab and relabel all of the bottles in his Potion's kit. And that was it really."

Scorpius was speechless, rather taken aback at the easy aplomb in Albus' voice as he made everything they had done sound so _simple_. But it also sounded like fun and Scorpius couldn't help regretting that they'd kept him out of it. He'd never done anything like that in his life and he found himself wanting to know what it would feel like to just throw caution to the winds and do something so reckless.

It must have shown on his face because Albus suddenly laughed. "You are so completely jealous," he said.

"I'm not," Scorpius said quickly, and then he frowned. "Well, a little. I understand why you didn't want me involved, but… well… I don't know…" he trailed off as Albus leaned forward.

"I tell you what," he whispered. "I'll get the cloak off James and one night we'll go on a little adventure of our own. How would you like that?"

Scorpius rather thought he'd like it a lot. The idea of sneaking around the school at night with Albus was definitely appealing… if not a little nerve-wracking, but before he could reply with anything more than a nod, Peony and Michael suddenly landed on the couch beside them.

"What are you two whispering about?" Peony asked loudly with a smirking grin on her face.

"None of your business," Albus replied pleasantly and Peony laughed.

"Those girls over there were working themselves into a frenzy," she said, nodding to a corner of the room and Scorpius could see a group of Slytherin 3rd year girls watching them intently.

"So, we thought we'd work them up even more by interrupting you," Michael added.

"And you didn't think that it might annoy us as much as it would annoy them?" Albus asked sarcastically.

"Now, now," Peony said, patting Albus' knee. "Remember the plan. You don't want to give them too much too soon."

Scorpius immediately felt his face heat up as she turned to him and winked, and Albus looked as if, for once, he couldn't think of anything to say. Fortunately Adrian arrived at that point and the conversation quickly turned to the next Quidditch match for Slytherin and Ravenclaw, only a few weeks away.

* * *

The next day passed in much the same way as the previous one with everyone seeming to watch them with bated breath, but as Scorpius had expected this, it wasn't that hard to deal with. Unfortunately what he hadn't expected was that some of those people watching them might grow a little impatient and decide to try and help matters along, which was how Scorpius found himself trapped against the wall of an empty fourth floor classroom during their Tuesday afternoon free period.

He'd collected a book from the library and was on his way to their favourite study area to meet everyone else, when something grabbed him from behind. It dragged him into a nearby classroom and pinned him against the wall, feet dangling uselessly in the air, before he even had a chance to draw his wand. When Scorpius looked down all he could see was what looked like an arm, made out of the stone and mortar of the castle wall, wrapped around his waist. He frowned in frustration, for it wasn't a particularly comfortable position to be in and he couldn't even touch the floor with his toes when he stretched out his feet. With a bit of shifting around he managed to pull his wand out of the pocket of his robes and he pointed it at the strange stone arm.

"Relashio," he said, preparing himself for the drop onto the floor, but nothing happened.

During the next twenty minutes Scorpius tried every variation of the releasing spell that he could think of, but nothing worked, and he was actually starting to feel a little scared. After all, if someone else still wanted to have a go at him like Creevey had, here he was, trapped and vulnerable.

He was just about to give up and attempt to use the Sonorus spell in the hopes that someone would hear him and rescue him, when he heard footsteps in the hall outside and the door opened.

Scorpius looked up nervously and then heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that it was Albus, still looking at a piece of paper in his hand. Before Scorpius could say anything though, Albus looked up and spotted him, freezing in shock for a moment. And then he laughed.

"Oh, that's right, very funny," Scorpius said testily and he rolled his eyes, which only seemed to make Albus laugh harder. "This isn't exactly comfortable you know, so I'd appreciate it if you'd get me down."

"Sorry," Albus spluttered, and Scorpius felt that he'd never heard a less genuine apology in his life. "How did you get up there?"

"I have no idea," Scorpius said. "Someone thought it would make a great joke, I suppose."

"Hmm, maybe not a joke," Albus said thoughtfully, walking closer and peering at the stone arm around Scorpius' waist. "I think it's more of a set up. I got a note telling me where to find you. Good thing I believed it."

"Yes, very good thing," Scorpius muttered resentfully. "Why couldn't they trap _you_ instead of me?"

"Perhaps they thought I'd enjoy rescuing you," Albus said, smiling up at Scorpius, and that look was back in his eyes, the one that made Scorpius' stomach swoop with tension. "And I think I will."

"Well," Scorpius said, rather breathlessly. "Why don't you get on with it then?"

Albus grinned and then examined the stone arm again. "This looks like a variation of the Incarcifors spell. A very interesting one."

"Well, Relashio didn't work," Scorpius offered, and he blushed a little when his voice still sounded breathy.

"Luckily," Albus replied, "whoever set this up also gave me the counterspell."

He stepped even closer to Scorpius and looked up with a smile. "You know, they've really been very clever."

"Oh, really?" Scorpius managed to say, but he was finding it difficult not to lose himself in Albus' vivid green eyes.

"Yes," Albus said. "Very clever, because I'm going to have to catch you when I release you. Put your hands on my shoulders."

Scorpius tentatively complied and then Albus pointed his wand at the stone arm and said "Decemento" and suddenly Scorpius found himself standing on the floor with Albus' arm wrapped tightly around his waist. And he had to admit it felt infinitely better than the stone one had.

"Thank you," he said softly, looking up at Albus, but Albus didn't let him go.

"Do you think it's too soon?"

"Too soon for what?" Scorpius asked, and he was struggling to breathe properly again. He was fairly certain that Albus had noticed it, but he didn't care. All he could do was stare into Albus' eyes.

"Too soon to kiss you," Albus said, in a low voice, and his gaze flicked to Scorpius' mouth and then back to his eyes. "Because I really want to."

Nerves and excitement twisted in Scorpius' stomach but he knew that he really wanted it too, and even though it had only been a few days since he'd gone on his first date with Fabian, he felt that he'd waited for this long enough. So, he wrapped a slightly trembling hand around the back of Albus' neck and tilted his own face up.

"It's not too soon," he said, and then finally, Albus lips were on his.

As soon as their mouths met, Scorpius knew this was going to be very different from what he'd experienced with Fabian. Fabian had been gentle and slow but Albus pushed forward immediately, pressing Scorpius into the wall and delving deeply into his mouth. For a moment Scorpius was a little overwhelmed but then a wave of heat went through his body, just as Albus' tongue slid firmly along his, and he tightened his hands around Albus' neck and shoulders straining to pull him closer.

Albus' teeth nipped Scorpius' bottom lip and then his tongue soothed the tingling sting before tangling with Scorpius' tongue once more, and Scorpius heard a little breathy moan that he realized, with a start, had come from his own throat. Albus' arm was still tight around his waist but his other hand had come to rest on Scorpius' hip and he could feel Albus' fingers clenching and unclenching rhythmically as the kiss steadily grew more passionate.

Scorpius was gasping for breath, and he could feel how flushed his face had to be, by the time Albus softened the kiss and then finally pulled away, bending his head so that his lips rested near Scorpius' ear.

"Merlin," he breathed, "I've been wanting to do that for so long."

"Me too," Scorpius admitted, still panting, and feeling a little light-headed.

As he rested his forehead against Albus' shoulder, Albus laughed softly.

"Whoever set this up got what they wanted."

"I wonder if they know," Scorpius replied, frowning a little. "Because I really don't want to get trapped somewhere again even if you do get to rescue me."

Albus laughed again, his lips brushing against Scorpius' throat, and Scorpius vainly tried to suppress the shiver that the sensation caused.

"There's one way we could make sure everyone knows," he said, and Scorpius shivered again because Albus' now sounded breathless himself, and his voice was low and rough. "Let me mark you."

"What?" Scorpius whispered in confusion, but Albus' lips were already sliding along his throat, his tongue pressing between his teeth onto Scorpius' flesh, and Scorpius suddenly realized what Albus had meant. He briefly imagined the embarrassment of walking into the Great Hall with everyone staring at the love bites on his neck but at the same time the idea of Albus doing that to him made something stir in his abdomen, a heated rush of pure want that slightly startled him.

"Let me," Albus breathed against his throat, his lips pressing more firmly and Scorpius couldn't help moaning a little.

"Yes," Scorpius groaned, and then Albus' hand was in his hair, tilting his head back slightly, and his mouth was hot against Scorpius' skin, scattering open kisses along Scorpius' throat before he finally settled on a spot just above his collarbone.

At the first sensation of Albus teeth, followed by suction, Scorpius' eyes almost rolled into the back of his head. He could feel Albus' tongue smoothing over the bite as he sucked and it felt amazing, sending little sparks of pleasure all over his body.

" _Fuck_ ," he breathed, and he rarely cursed so badly but he couldn't help it. At any rate, Albus seemed to like it because he bit down again, and Scorpius heard a low moan that vibrated against his skin.

Albus' hand tightened in his hair as his mouth moved to another spot on Scorpius' throat and Scorpius could feel himself starting to tremble with the overload of sensation. He was also developing another problem, one that he was a little worried Albus would notice, and one that was surprising him for, yes, sometimes Scorpius had thought about being with Albus like this and he'd ended up with an erection, but never had his dick become so hard, so fast.

"Albus…" he started to say, in a raw voice he almost didn't recognize as his own, but he didn't get any further because suddenly Albus' lips were on his again, moving firmly, nibbling and dragging, his tongue once more sliding sinfully into Scorpius' mouth.

Scorpius lost himself in it, not caring anymore if Albus could feel how much he was affected. He was actually just about to thoughtlessly move forward and try to find some relief and friction against Albus' body when Albus suddenly pulled away, gasping for breath.

"We should stop," he panted, his eyes dark as looked down at Scorpius.

It took Scorpius a moment to realize what had happened but once it finally sank in, he nodded. He was a little shocked at how close he'd come to losing himself in the moment and probably doing something he knew he wasn't really ready for.

"Yes," he said, after clearing his throat slightly. "Yes, you're right."

Albus had let him go but he was still staring at him, his eyes still dark and intense, but then he smiled.

"Your hair's a mess," he said, and Scorpius quickly ran his hands through it, feeling flustered and also thankful that his other problem was almost gone, until Albus nodded.

"Yeah, it's fine now."

"Well, um," Scorpius stammered, sort of stunned that after everything that had just happened he was actually feeling a little shy. "Thank you for coming to my rescue."

"My pleasure, believe me," Albus replied, his eyes glinting with amusement. He held out a hand. "We should get going. It's almost dinnertime."

Scorpius nodded and took Albus' hand and as they headed towards the door he heard Albus laugh quietly.

"I do have one question though," Albus said, as Scorpius looked at him curiously. "And I hope it's not too late to ask it."

"Oh? What is it?"

"Well, will you go out with me to Hogsmeade on Saturday?" Albus asked, squeezing Scorpius' hand and this time it was Scorpius who laughed.

"I think you already know the answer to that," he said, and later, when they entered the Great Hall together and there was scattered applause from a few people that made Scorpius finally remember the marks on his throat, he wasn't even really all that embarrassed.


	18. Chapter 18

By the time Saturday morning rolled around, Albus was in a state of considerable frustration.

He had to admit that the kiss with Scorpius in the empty classroom had taken him by surprise. He'd known that he desperately wanted to kiss Scorpius but the way he'd lost his head when he'd felt Scorpius' soft, pliant lips under his had been totally unexpected. It had been hard to pull himself back from it; hard not to push forward and do something that he had a feeling Scorpius wasn't ready for. He had some doubts about whether he was ready for it himself.

But, unfortunately, after that he'd hardly had a chance to be alone with Scorpius, and in some ways he only had himself to blame. With the Ravenclaw/Slytherin Quidditch match coming up in a few weeks, Albus had increased the team's practice times, because this year nothing was going to stop him from winning the Cup from Gryffindor. And on top of that, Albus had started the Apparition course for he would be turning seventeen in March.

All of this meant that he'd only been able to steal a few short kisses with Scorpius and one decent snog, and it was starting to really get to him.

So, all in all, he was _really_ looking forward to their date on Saturday.

* * *

When Albus saw Scorpius waiting for him in the entrance courtyard early on Saturday morning he wondered if Scorpius was deliberately trying to make him explode with sexual frustration.

Scorpius looked amazing. He was wearing the coat and scarf that Albus had given him for Christmas but he was also wearing those skin-tight black jeans that he'd worn as part of his Halloween costume… and those tall combat boots that tended to have an arousing effect on certain parts of Albus' anatomy.

"Wow," Albus couldn't help saying and then he pulled Scorpius into his arms and pressed a kiss to his mouth. Scorpius' soft lips parted under his in the most deliciously eager way and Albus moaned before forcing himself to pull away.

"Let's get some breakfast," he said, taking Scorpius' hand and tugging him along the path to Hogsmeade.

Scorpius' laughed in that silvery way he had. "You must be hungry."

 _Oh, I am_ , Albus thought but at the same time he knew he should get himself under control. He was still a little taken aback over his extreme physical reaction to Scorpius ever since they had first kissed – it was like once the gate had opened, everything had just flowed out – and he really didn't want to push them too far too soon.

Hogsmeade was quiet, and as they took their seats in the Three Broomsticks and ordered the breakfast special, Albus was glad that they'd decided to get there before all of the other Hogwarts students.

After breakfast they went to Tomes and Scrolls to pick up a book that Scorpius' needed and then they wandered aimlessly around the village for a while, talking, and trying to ignore the building tension between them.

Finally, Albus couldn't take it anymore and he tugged Scorpius into a narrow, deserted alleyway and pushed him against the wall.

He tried to hold back, to be gentle, but the moment his lips touched Scorpius' he sort of lost his head yet again. He pressed forward, trapping Scorpius against the wall, and when Scorpius gasped against his mouth the sensation went straight through Albus' body. He moaned as his tongue slid against Scorpius' tongue, and savoured the answering moan from the boy in his arms.

His hands slid under Scorpius' coat and he dragged them over Scorpius' slim thighs, tracing his lean muscles with his fingers. Scorpius had flung his arms around Albus' shoulders, and Albus shivered as he felt one of Scorpius' hands caress the back of his neck, and pull him closer, deepening the kiss.

And then his hands found their way to Scorpius' arse, and Albus' cupped it tenderly, relishing its perfect curves, and the sharp intake of Scorpius' breath against his lips. He lifted Scorpius easily, and suddenly Scorpius' legs were around his hips and their groins pressed together in delicious friction.

Scorpius was as hard as Albus was, his erection straining against his as Albus thrust forward and groaned. He could feel Scorpius trembling and then Scorpius' hands tightened on his shoulders and he pulled away out of their deep, messy kiss.

"Al," he gasped. "Al… wait, wait."

Albus came back to himself with a shuddering gasp, and he quickly let Scorpius down.

"Merlin," he breathed. "Scorp, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean for that to happen. I'm sorry."

And he had to admit to feeling fairly relieved when Scorpius took his hand and smiled.

"No, it's all right, Al," he said. "It's just that… well… it's just a little fast. I mean, this time last week I was on a date with Fabian and you were still Simon's boyfriend."

Albus nodded. "I know. You're right." He pressed a quick kiss to Scorpius' lips. "And we have plenty of time. We should take this slow, but it's just that I _really_ like you," he added with a rueful grin.

"I _really_ like you too," Scorpius replied with a laugh that made Albus' grin widen. He lowered his head and pressed another soft kiss to Scorpius' lips but he wasn't surprised when Scorpius pulled away after a few moments. He was a little surprised, though, to see the sudden wariness in Scorpius' expression.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his heart sinking a bit.

"Nothing really," Scorpius said quickly. "I just… I just want us to be sure before we go too far, that's all. I mean, Simon comes back to Hogwarts tomorrow and you haven't really had a chance to talk to him properly. You were with him for a long time."

"I know," Albus said carefully, for he could hear the cautious note in Scorpius' voice. His first thought was to instantly reassure him, especially as he had a feeling that Scorpius hadn't realised that Albus had intended to break up with Simon before he'd found out that he'd been lied to about Creevey, but instinct told him that Scorpius would continue to be wary until Simon returned. And he couldn't really fault Scorpius for that, after all things _had_ moved very fast and a lot had changed in the last week. Albus would just have to be patient… and Scorpius was well worth that, he decided.

"All right," Albus finally continued. "But I'm asking you right now to come out with me again next weekend." He winked when Scorpius blushed slightly and nodded.

"Right then. Well, it's almost teatime. I suppose we may as well go to Madam Puddifoot's."

Scorpius looked horrified.

"No, really Al, we don't have to do that," he said quickly. "We could just go back to the Three Broomsticks."

"Come now, Scorp," Albus said, with an evil grin. "You can't deny me the pleasure of taking you to Madam Puddifoot's. No one will ever believe that we're together if we don't show up there at some point."

He ignored Scorpius' vehement protests, took his hand, and all but dragged him into, as Scorpius' described it in a hissing whisper, 'that vile lair of overwhelmingly vulgar, romantic drivel'.

Albus laughed all through tea.

* * *

When Albus woke up the next morning with a knot of tension in his stomach he had to acknowledge that he was fairly nervous about the idea of Simon's return that day. It wasn't that he was unsure about the break up, or his growing feelings for Scorpius, but he knew there would have to be a confrontation of some sort. Simon would find out pretty quickly that Albus was now seeing Scorpius (if he didn't know already) and Albus was still fairly annoyed that Simon had said the things that he had to Nathan Trent.

At breakfast, Scorpius was quiet too, and Albus could tell that he'd sensed Albus' discomfort and was trying to give him space and he gave Scorpius' hand a grateful squeeze before Scorpius was dragged off somewhere with Rose and Peony.

After his Apparition class, Albus spent the afternoon in practice with his Quidditch team and he was grateful for the distraction, even if he couldn't really fully concentrate. Luckily, they were mainly doing practice drills so the afternoon drifted on fairly calmly. Once the practice was over, Albus stayed out on the pitch for a while, flying in lazy circles until he realised that all he was really doing was putting off the inevitable moment. So, he flew down to the pitch and headed for the Quidditch shed.

He'd just left and was walking along the path back to the castle when he noticed two figures standing near a tree and he paused. It was only James and his girlfriend, Jane, but there was something so awkward and tense about the way that they were standing that Albus felt like he couldn't intrude on them. He started to step backwards, but just as he began to do so, Jane's voice rose and he could hear the tears behind it.

"That bastard," she said, her voice rising even higher in volume. "He can't be trusted."

"No, Jane," James replied, almost as loudly, and Albus blinked. He'd never heard his brother sound so tense and upset before. "You can't blame him. It was my fault, I told you. I'm the one that did it."

Jane seemed to freeze as she stared at James, and Albus found he couldn't move either, he was even holding his breath, because he had a strong feeling for a moment, that she was contemplating either hexing James or punching him in the face.

"How could you?" she finally asked fiercely, and Albus saw his brother shrug.

"I don't know," he said, and he sounded completely confused. "I just did. And I'm sorry, Jane, but I just couldn't go on without telling you."

"Oh right," she snapped. "But you're not sorry that you did it, are you? You know what? You can fuck off, James."

She started to walk away. James reached for her arm and then dropped his hand when she wrenched herself away.

"Jane, please, we can talk about this. Please don't…"

"We don't have anything to talk about. And if you're worried that I'll tell anyone, don't be. I couldn't stand the added humiliation, you _arse_."

A moment later she was gone. James stood, very still, for a moment, and then he turned and saw Albus standing further up the path. He rolled his eyes as Albus walked down to him.

"Um… sorry," Albus said, and he meant it because now that he could see James up close, he could see how pale he was and the dark circles under his eyes. He'd obviously not been sleeping well for days and Albus was a little ashamed that he'd not only stumbled onto such a private moment, but that he'd not really notice anything amiss with his brother in the last few days. "I just kind of froze."

"Doesn't matter," James muttered.

"Are you all right?" Albus asked, and James rolled his eyes again.

"What do you think?" he replied. "You just witnessed my girlfriend breaking up with me."

"Yeah," Albus said softly. "It seems sort of sudden. The other day you were saying that you were okay. What happened? I mean, do you want to talk about it?" he added hastily as James glared at him.

"No," James snapped, and then the glare softened as he obviously fought to calm himself. "Sorry, Al. Not yet. I'm… confused at the moment. And guilty. The truth is, it had sort of got… um… boring I suppose, with Jane, but I still shouldn't have… I mean, she had every right to break up with me. She has every right to be angry with me. I've completely fucked up everything."

Albus frowned at the distress in James' voice and he tentatively laid a hand on his brother's arm.

"Is there anything I can do?"

James shrugged. "No," his eyes were thoughtful as he looked at Albus. "Maybe… maybe we can talk later. But not yet. I'm not ready yet."

"Okay," Albus said slowly, and he couldn't keep the confusion out of his voice. James gave him a brief, tight smile and then walked quickly away.

* * *

Albus was lost in thought as he slowly followed James back to the castle. He'd seen his brother in various states of emotion over the years, including anger and sadness, but he'd never seen him so… distraught. And that was disturbing.

"Hello Al."

Albus took a deep breath and turned slowly, his heart beating hard.

"Hello Simon," he said carefully.

Simon stepped closer and Albus saw that he, too, looked pale, and a part of him twinged with guilt.

"I'm back," Simon said, and then he gave a wry smile. "Obviously."

"I'm… glad," Albus replied, and it was sort of true. Simon had been a huge part of his life and he really didn't want them to end up hating each other.

"Really?" Simon asked with a raised brow. "Because I already know that you didn't waste any time."

 _And here we go_ , Albus thought. "I could say the same about you," he said, calmly. "You were pretty quick to spill our break up to Nathan bloody Trent. And to blame Scorpius for it."

"Well, I wasn't exactly wrong, was I?" Simon said quickly, and then he held out a stalling hand as Albus opened his mouth to respond. "No, wait. I really _don't_ want to end up fighting about this. I'm sorry about Nathan. He caught me at a really bad moment… and you've managed to play it out to your advantage anyway, so let's just forget it and move on, shall we?"

Albus nodded. "All right."

"I just wanted to ask you to… well, it's a favour I suppose," Simon continued, and he sounded a little breathless with tension, so Albus nodded again. "I'll go along with this story that Fabian concocted but just… don't rub my face in it, Al. It's still raw."

Something tightened in Albus' chest and he swallowed heavily. He could see the telltale shine in Simon's eyes, and he could hear the emotion in his voice.

"Simon," he said softly. "Please believe me, I've _never_ wanted to hurt you. I never meant to. And Scorpius didn't mean-"

"Don't talk to me about Scorpius," Simon interrupted and now there was anger in his voice.

Albus frowned. "Simon-"

"No, Al, I mean it. It's really best if Scorpius and I just stay away from each other. I'd really just prefer to forget he exists. I know that's not exactly possible but, I can tell you, I'll bloody well do my best to accomplish it."

Albus didn't get a chance to reply to that because Simon brushed past him and walked up to the castle at a brisk pace, his head down, and Albus was left standing on the path wondering if his afternoon could have been any more awkward or awful.

He couldn't help feeling guilty, and it was as much over the fact that he'd caused Simon pain, as it was over the discovery when he'd seen Simon that he really didn't have any feelings for him anymore. He supposed that he actually should be relieved about that, considering the way he now felt about Scorpius, but at that moment all he could feel was a deep sense of sadness and loss.

He didn't go to dinner. Instead he wandered down to the kitchens and begged a sandwich. When the others came into the common room, he was curled up on a sofa in front of the fire, and he was thankful that they'd obviously decided not to question him. He suspected that it was Scorpius' doing so he gave him a grateful smile when Scorpius' sat down beside him, and pulled him close as he listened to his friend's quiet conversation.


End file.
